• Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
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    11 months 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
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        11 months 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@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months 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
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          11 months ago

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

          • Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
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            11 months 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.