WHT IS NEGATIVE 4 EXPONENT 4

Question

WHAT IS NEGATIVE 4 TO THE POWER OF 4 EQUAL TO?

2/7/2013 | Elaine from Houston, TX | 2 Answers | 0 Votes

Answer 1

In the case that you mean (-4)⁴, it can be written out as (-4)(-4)(-4)(-4). Since multiplying two negatives gives a positive, this is equal to 16*16 = 256. More generally, (-x)ⁿ for x positive and n even will always yield a positive answer.

If you mean to write -(4⁴), the negative would stay out front:

-(4)(4)(4)(4) = -(16)(16) = -256

Answer 2

-4⁴ is the same as (-4)*(-4)*(-4)*(-4) is the same as (16)*(16) = 256

unless you mean -(4⁴), then in that case the answer would be -256

2/7/2013 | Luke B.

Comments

Luke, I think your notation is om error

-4⁴ always means -1 * 4⁴

You need to use parentheses if you want (-4)⁴

2/7/2013 | Isaac C.

Isaac- Thanks for the clarification.

I think the moral of the story is that one should use parentheses to reduce the chance of confusion.

2/8/2013 | Luke B.