Re: Re: power operator (again)

> So I'm really confused now as to why people think -2 ** 2 should equal > 4. -2² is -4. Why should -2**2 equal 4? Maybe the reason is lazy use of parentheses by math teachers? Imagine a teacher writing "-2 -1 0 1 2" on the board, then later adding the exponent: "Now, we take the square of each." The "-" and "2" might seem to be stuck together, since they were on the board first (?). And the main takeaway for students is that the square of a negative is positive, so the parens aren't emphasized at that particular time. Just an idea.... -- S.