How to read correctly this statement (associative law)

[tomas_xc]

I'm not a native speaker of English and I was reading a Calculus's book and I didn't know the correct way to read a statement about real numbers. This is the statement:

"a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c"

Is it "a plus the sum of b and c is equal to the sum of a and b plus c"?
Or is it just "a plus b plus c is equal to a plus b plus c"?

I just think the second one inappropriate because it doesn't tell the associative law at all.

So, can anybody tell me the correct way?
Thanks!

 

[Office_Shredder]

The first one is exactly what it's saying.

 

[tomas_xc]

The first one is exactly what it's saying.

Thank you! You really helped me.

 

[xaos]

the first implies the second. once you have an associative operation, you always drop such parentheses to save effort.