am I missing something here?

Question

0

615

3

why the heck is -4^{2 =} -16

I have always been told that minus X minus gives plus...

help to explain this would be very much apreciated

Guest May 30, 2016

+33653

+10

Best Answer

(-4)^2 → (-4)*(-4) → +16

But -4^2 → -(4^2) → -(4*4) → -16 because exponentiation (raising to a power) takes precedence over negation.

Alan May 30, 2016

Alan · Answer 1 · 2016-05-30T07:28:27

(-4)^2 → (-4)*(-4) → +16

But -4^2 → -(4^2) → -(4*4) → -16 because exponentiation (raising to a power) takes precedence over negation.

Guest · Answer 2 · 2016-05-30T07:45:21

dont know been told the same thing

ElectricPavlov · Answer 3 · 2016-05-30T11:23:06

Seems we go through this every few weeks

(-4)^2 =16

-4^2 = -(4^2) = -16 as explained by Alan