I have a Trait TGroup that requires #*, #identity and #inverse. I want to construct a TField by composing TGroup with itself. One TGroup will form the operations #*, #one, and #reciprocal while the other will form #+, #zero and #negated. I don't want #identity or #inverse, because these apply to one operation, and it makes TField's API ambiguous. That's what TraitExclusion is for. I had thought I could say (TGroup @ {#identity->#zero. #* -> #+. #inverse->#negated} + TGroup @ {#identity->#one. #inverse->#reciprocal}) - {#identity. #inverse} but TraitComposition >> #- says that exclusion binds tighter than +. So in effect the above composition is the same as TGroup @ {#identity->#zero. #* -> #+. #inverse->#negated} + (TGroup @ {#identity->#one. #inverse->#reciprocal} - {#identity. #inverse}) In short, to remove the undesirable #identity and #inverse I have to exclude from both sides of the composition: TGroup @ {#identity->#zero. #* -> #+. #inverse->#negated} - {#identity. #inverse} + TGroup @ {#identity->#one. #inverse->#reciprocal} - {#identity. #inverse} My question is this: what is the reason for - binding more tightly than +? Why is it _not_ desirable to have - distribute over +? frank