Question

Which expressions have equivalent answers? Check all that apply.
39
34
–92
99
811

Answer 1

I need to check what those tokens mean. They could be exponent expressions (3^9, 3^4, −9^2, 9^9, 8^11) or multiplications (3×9, 3×4, −9×2, 9×9, 8×11). Which did you mean?

Here are both interpretations:

- As exponents:
- 3^9 = 19,683
- 3^4 = 81
- −9^2 (by standard order of operations) = −(9^2) = −81
- 9^9 = 387,420,489
- 8^11 = 8,589,934,592
-> With the standard interpretation of −9^2, none of these are equal.

Note: if −9^2 was intended as (−9)^2 = 81, then 3^4 and (−9)^2 are both 81 and thus equivalent.

- As multiplications:
- 3×9 = 27
- 3×4 = 12
- −9×2 = −18
- 9×9 = 81
- 8×11 = 88
-> No two are equal.

Tell me which interpretation is intended (or paste the original expressions with parentheses/carets) and I’ll mark the matching ones.