>Metin,
>
>> but online math calculator, my math. eng. friend and my daughter say -4... :(
>
>They are all wrong. The answer is 4.
>
>The unary negation operation has higher precedence than exponentiation.
>
>I order for the answer to be -4, the expression would have to be -(2**2) using parens in order to force the exponentiation to happen first.

You wrong:

http://www.online-utility.org/math/math_calculator.jsp

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q132686/

http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/69058.html


Exponentiation has priority. you should do 2*2 after that put -.