• Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I don’t think you encounter this one very often, but the technically correct -2^2 = -4 has a higher chance of ruining your day.

      • Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        No, you’d expect that -2^2 would equal 4, but calculators solve it as -(2)^2 not (-2)^2. But the case you mentioned is also pretty common.

        • ReveredOxygen
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          1 year ago

          if you’ve touched polynomials ever, you’d expect the exponent to be before the negation. If you write x³-x² you don’t mean x³ + (-x)² = x³+x², you mean x³-(x²)

        • 0ops@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          I think they mean that you said the correct answer is -8 in your first comment. Typo?

          • Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I was taught that negative numbers should be written as (-2) with the parentheses when using exponents. So I assume that the calculators are doing it right, or maybe it’s just a measure against calculators doing it wrong? I cannot be sure. Also-2 = 0-2 so -2^2 = 0-2^2.