Believe me

The "problem" is Mathcad chosing an "arbitrary" solution from an infinite number of (correct) solutions.
That way your second equation does not simplify to zero for every value of x.
That way, associative law does not apply.

You should not get 0 when simplifying your equation (2) as we have a single value at the left and an infinite number of values at the right, one of them happens to be the left one. Its the same situation as in your equation (3) but for some reason MuPad now realizes the difference.
Maybe you understand the "thinking" of Mathcad better that way:

I didn't wait for simplify.max to finish.
WE