[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

see, we already have one wrong answer

the unary minus is not included in the exponential operation

the correct answer is -9

for the minus to be included in the exponential operation it must be in a parenthesis
(-3)²
-3 x -3
9

-3²
-3 x 3
-9

and no you can not arbitrarily add a parenthesis nor is it implied or implicit

no wonder this country is falling behind the rest of the world

hey, that's nuthin