because when you do 4^2, it's equal to 4*4, and then when you do 16*4, and then 64*4, that totals to 4. basically the first step takes two fours and then the other 2 steps take only one
-4^4 is 256. The reason is because the power operation (4^4) takes precedence, and is calculated first. Then it brings down the minus sign. If you were to write like this:(-4)^4 =+256. Try it and see.
