Question

Sort these in order:

4*3^2, 2*4^3, -4*3^2, 4*-3^2, 4*3^-2

Doing this from low to high is:
-4*3^2, 4*-3^2, 4*3^-2, 4*3^2, 2*4^3

The thing that bothers me is 4*-3^2. I would of stupidly made it 36 and not -36. (i.e. 4*-3^2 = 4*9 = 36.. But instead its 4*(-3^2) = -4*3^2 = -4*9 = -36

I might of skipped something awhile back or forgotten it. Is the general rule in these cases to remove the parentheses and add the negative to beginning? Or do we say that -x^2 would always be negative (which doesn't make sense to me) I'm a little confused here, sorry!

Answer 1

If I wanted to be sure it was positive I think I would say:
4 * (-3)^2

Answer 2

Yeah I get that one, it's written 4*-3^2 though in this case. I just don't understand why the 4 takes on the negative instead.