Please explain.. a math question

I am so confused.. when you are multiplying negative.. 2 negative = a positive

so is this the same when you are doing exponents. negative 4 to the power of 2 ... would it be a positive or negative.. 16 and why...

The answer key shows it as a negative 16 .. which is why I am so confused.. did I forget some rule..

 

It should be positive 16. Must be a typo/error in the answer key.

 

OK, My son has been thinking and he some some wild answer.

he says this: -4 to the power of 2 then it is -16 (because in order of operations the exponent comes first not the negative.)

to get +16 it would have to be (-4) to the power of 2

Hope this makes sense......

 

Thats what I found out from googling it... why does it have to be so complicated. LOL

 

Try this: http://www.mathsisfun.com/multiplying-negatives.html

(If -4 squared, then -4 x -4, if cubed then 16 x -4)

I love this site!

 

My son told me that this was something everyone got wrong in his math class last year. (So he remembered the solution.) It is one of those things that looks simple but isn't.

 

Yes, the negative must be included in parentheses to be part of what is squared.

 

That is true. (I forgot about that.)

 

What she said...

The reason is in the first example you are simply squaring the number, not the negative sign.

In the second example you are squaring a (-4)(-4).

 

Yup: -(4^2)= -16 as compared to (-4)^2= +16