I hear a significant number of English-second-language speakers, English-first-language children, and less educated English-first-language peers, say

x equals to three times sine alpha

For example, when reading x = 3 sin(α).

I read this "x equals three times...", and I believe that to be the correct pronunciation and hear it more commonly among mathematicians in formal settings and among well-educated/well-read English-first-language speakers.

So what's origin of this (mis) pronunciation?

I am genuinely interested in how it came to be so pervasive among less fluent English speakers.