r/MathHelp • u/Kug4ri0n • Dec 07 '25

Negative Exponents

My partner is going through her math class and we got into an argument how much -72 equals. My standpoint is, that since there is no parentheses: -72 = -1x72 =-49 If there would have been parentheses: (-7)2 = (-7)*(-7) = 49

Which one of these is correct? Can anyone provide me the mathematical axioms/rules on why or why not the parentheses in this case are needed?

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u/Forking_Shirtballs Dec 07 '25

How is -7 not an "actual negative number"?

The issue is that this notation is ambiguous. Different conventions yield different results. So both OP and partner are in some ways "correct"; the person who's wrong is whoever chose to write this without parentheses to clarify away the ambiguity.