Alan,

No the whole "negative 1 times" subtopic is obfuscating the discussion.

Negative two squared equals positive 4 it's as plain and simple as that.

Your initial reaction was correct, VFP is correct, and I happen to be correct... to heck with all the opposing naysayers. *g*

>Agreed. It's not really the negative of 2 squared. It's negative 1 times 2 squared. As far as most of the people posting who say what I'm saying, the info comes from math sources (texts, professors, engineers etc.). I know it seem counter-intuitive and initially, I agreed with your view, but so far, not one legitimate math source I've seen agrees; so afaic, I was wrong, and the texts etc are right.