24ab^2
Uhm, that 'math' is so basic, why do you post a topic about it instead of just asking your teacher?
Oh, my bad.
24a^3 x b
Anyhow, my point still stands that this is not really math, but just a manner of notation. If you want to go any further in mathematics, you will have to be able to do these by heart and automatically, or you will be in big trouble if you want to do anything related to maths or physics, or any other scientific class for that matter.
If you write something that is meant one way, and interpreted another, it's the same thing as being wrong in the first place. Honestly, I'm sure Einstein, if he actually had this problem, fixed it in his final copy of his papers, otherwise, his theories would have been misinterpreted and such.I belive Einstein was pretty poor at this "notation" stuff too.
Ben