>>>>>>>Alan,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>It takes precedence because it does. I'm not making this up. Whether or not anyone can find alternate authorities as proof doesn't matter to me. I'm not going to wade through all of the crap sources on the internet that proclaim that -2 squared is -4. They are flatly wrong.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I have spent some time on the google path finding all sorts of conflicting information about the precedence of unary signs, but it still comes down to the simple fact that -2 squared is 4
>>>>>>not -4. Makes no difference what the precedence of the operations are -2 * -2 is 4 and I woudl therefore conclude that -2^3 is -8 as it is -2 * -2 = 4 * -2 = -8.
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't think it does. The question isn't what is negative 2 squared, the question is whether -2^2 written is by order of precedence:
>>>>>
>>>>>-(2^2) = -4 *mathematics
>>>>>or
>>>>>(-2) ^2 = 4 *some programming languages
>>>>>
>>>>>only because it was initially written without parenthesis.
>>>>>
>>>>>Just to stir the pot some more :o)
>>>>
>>>>Just to stir some more I would say that the parens are one step higher in precedence than the unary sign and therefore -(2)^2 is the same thing as -2^2. However -(2^2) says do the squaring first and then negate it. But given the argument others are purporting what is the value of;
>>>>
>>>>-(-2^2) is it 4 or -4?
>>>
>>>-(-2*-2) = -(4) = -4 :o)
>>
>>Uh, uh, Tracy. Inside the parens is the old -2^2 (not the same as (-2 * -2), but rather -1*2^2) which is -4, then negating that gives 4.
>
>Bzzzt. Would you like to play again?

2nd response. I said go back and re-read the thread, but in fact, just go back and re-read Tracy's message #1368334. I think she just messed up in the message I replied to here.