The mistake lies partly in writing 1/2 as 2/4. Squaring an expression often results in the creation of spurious answers, as for example, x=2, x^2=4, x=sqrt(4), x=2 or x=-2.
As to the actual question, to discuss it you have to involve complex numbers.
$$(-4)^{1/2}=(4\angle(180+360k))^{1/2}=2\angle(90+180k),\quad k=0,1.$$
That gets you 2 values for the square root of -4,
$$2\angle 90=2i \text{ or } 2\angle 270=-2i.$$
Now look at the final result as given, sqrt(16,4), which I take to mean the fourth root of 16.
$$16^{1/4}=(16\angle(0+360k))^{1/4}=2\angle 90k, \quad k=0,1,2,3.$$
That produces 4 'answers',
$$2\angle 0=2,\quad 2\angle90=2i,\quad 2\angle 180=-2 \quad \text{ and }\quad 2\angle 270=-2i,$$
that is, the two correct values plus two spurious ones.
The second mistake is that of choosing one of the spurious answers as the answer !
