Let's suppose one student can follow the procedure when asked but can't actually multiply in application, one student can't follow the procedure correctly but can multiply when needed, and a third can do both. Probably the first student will get questions on this quiz correct but will struggle on much of the rest of the unit, maybe get a low grade or hopefully get the help they need. The second (with the paper shown in the OP), will probably get an high grade because they got partial credit on a silly quiz. The third will get a higher high grade. What's so bad about that?

BTW, appealing to definitions won't work here, because the x does have a very well-defined mathematical meaning: a x b := b + ... + b.