devoiced
2008-08-20, 04:29
Sounds stupid, but it's bugging the hell out of me. All through high school we were taught that a negative number raised to an even power came out to be a positive number (-4 squared = -4*-4 = 16). However, today was my second day of college and I'm almost positive I just learned that a negative number raised to any power, odd or even, always results in a negative number.
Have I been lied to all these years, or did I just misinterpret my professor?
edit - I just opened my new calculator and punched in an equation, and to my surprise it came out negative. This leads me to believe my high school teachers had us change the format on our calculators so answers would come out different.
Why would this be taught two completely different ways? What is the logic behind this? Surely one way has to be wrong. -2^2 can't = 4 and -4.
Have I been lied to all these years, or did I just misinterpret my professor?
edit - I just opened my new calculator and punched in an equation, and to my surprise it came out negative. This leads me to believe my high school teachers had us change the format on our calculators so answers would come out different.
Why would this be taught two completely different ways? What is the logic behind this? Surely one way has to be wrong. -2^2 can't = 4 and -4.