what is negative 2 squared?

Question

ok i'm not dumb...but i thought it would be 4 because the negatives cancel out...so i tried it in my graphing calculator and it says it is -4 is that true???

wow lots of answers!!! uhh thanks a ton! i get it now i just had to put in parenthesis! ahhh i was so confused at least i no i'm not crazy!

Answer 1

it is 4

you need to put brackets around it like (-2)^2
otherwise it thinks its 0 - 2^2 which is -4

Answer 2

Yup the answer is 4, it's not negative. Even squares (a^2, a^4, a^6, etc.) can never be squares of negative numbers. The negatives always become positive.

For your calculator you'll have to put (-2)^2, because if you put -2^2, the calculator takes it as -(2^2), which is -4.

Answer 3

If it is (-2)² = 4
f it is -(2)² = -4

Answer 4

You probably are putting -2^2
You need parenthesis: (-2)^2 to get 4.

Answer 5

it is -4 when it is written as -2squared but when you write it as (-2)squared the answer would be 4.

Answer 6

-4 can only be the answer if the number is imaginary, that is 2i. But since -2 is a real number and not a complex number, there cannot be -4 as the answer. And by the way you don't need calculator to do this. it should be obvious. reset the memory of your graphic calculator, it should remove all the bugs. else, you need a new one.

Answer 7

-2^2=-(2*2)
=-4
(-2)^2=-2*-2
=4
You have to parenthesis the -2 if you are required to find
(-2)^2

Answer 8

(-2) x (-2) = 4 is answer

Answer 9

its 4 ,,,

Answer 10

its 4

(-)(-) = +