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[Leafsnail]

It's still a subtraction.  I'm pretty sure whether it's a "number" or an "operation" are irrelevant since there's no real distinction.

[Duke 2.0]

I was able to see the area around my college campus.  It looks dangerous.

You'll be able to mug people for lunch money no problem there.

[Burnt Pies]

So, in that case it's impossible to square a negative? I was told a squared negative makes a positive, which implies it must be possible to square the little blighters.

[Vector]

...

-(5^2) =/= (-5)^2

End of story

[Burnt Pies]

I was never arguing about that, I remember my high school maths well enough for that one to occur to me.

[Leafsnail]

So, in that case it's impossible to square a negative? I was told a squared negative makes a positive, which implies it must be possible to square the little blighters.

It's possible - you just have to use brackets or something equivalent.

[Taco Dan]

Well it doesn't say -(5²), it says -5². If they wanted it to be -(5²) they would have specified.
My calculator gives me 25 when I put in -5 * -5, and that's all squaring is, right?

[Vector]

Well it doesn't say -(5²), it says -5². If they wanted it to be -(5²) they would have specified.

. . .

Exponents, then parentheses, then multiplication, then division, then addition, then subtraction.

Note that it's exponents on top, then multiplication.  They did specify under order of operations.

[Earthquake Damage]

This is why we have a rage thread.

[Vector]

Well it doesn't say -(5²), it says -5². If they wanted it to be -(5²) they would have specified.
My calculator gives me 10 when I put in -5 * -5, and that's all squaring is, right?

. . .

10?

Buy a new calculator.  Also, again: put in -5^2 and see what you get out.

[Taco Dan]

Sorry typo I meant 25
Also my calculator doesn't have an exponents feature. This is because I'm too cheap to buy a fancy schmancy calculator and I just use the one on my computer.

[Taco Dan]

Well it doesn't say -(5²), it says -5². If they wanted it to be -(5²) they would have specified.

. . .

Exponents, then parentheses, then multiplication, then division, then addition, then subtraction.

Note that it's exponents on top, then multiplication.  They did specify under order of operations.

Where's the multiplication there? I see no multiplication.


EDIT: Anyway, the point is: This could all be fixed by taking out the multiple choice and adding a text box.

[Vector]

Multiplying by minus 1.  The number 5 is modified by two things:

a. an exponent
b. multiplication by -1, thus turning 5 into -5.

You do the math.

Also my calculator doesn't have an exponents feature. This is because I'm too cheap to buy a fancy schmancy calculator and I just use the one on my computer.

Type it into Google and see what happens.

[Taco Dan]

Multiplying by minus 1.  The number 5 is modified by two things:

a. an exponent
b. multiplication by -1, thus turning 5 into -5.

You do the math.

But by this logic, wouldn't -1 itself be 1*-1? Doesn't that just create an endless loop?

[Earthquake Damage]

But by this logic, wouldn't -1 itself be 1*-1? Doesn't that just create an endless loop?

Yes, 1 can be expressed as 1*1*1*1*1*... ad infinitum.