The argument is null. Seventh and I pretty much explained it; the question is inherently ambiguous and can be interpreted either way. You may think that you can't interpret to solve as 2, but as it's been pointed out repeatedly there's no rule for how to do that, and there never will be. The fault is in the question and thus the question asker, not with the person who solved it.
Unless you got an answer other than 2 or 288.