eolas/zk/Negative_exponents.md

---
tags: [algebra, exponents]
---

# Negative exponents

When calculating the exponents of a negative number the answer will always will
be positive:

$$
-5^2 = 25
$$

This confused me but it was because I was thinking of it in terms of
$-5 \cdot 5$ when in fact it is $-5 \cdot -5$ and when two negative numbers are
multiplied the product is always negative.
Initial commit, pure MD 2022-04-23 13:26:53 +01:00			`---`
Last Sync: 2022-08-20 13:00:04 2022-08-20 13:00:04 +01:00			`tags: [algebra, exponents]`
Initial commit, pure MD 2022-04-23 13:26:53 +01:00			`---`

Autosave: 2024-10-18 20:00:02 2024-10-18 20:00:02 +01:00			`# Negative exponents`

reformat all files to 80 char line length 2024-02-02 15:58:13 +00:00			`When calculating the exponents of a negative number the answer will always will`
			`be positive:`

Initial commit, pure MD 2022-04-23 13:26:53 +01:00			`$$`
			`-5^2 = 25`
			`$$`

reformat all files to 80 char line length 2024-02-02 15:58:13 +00:00			`This confused me but it was because I was thinking of it in terms of`
			`$-5 \cdot 5$ when in fact it is $-5 \cdot -5$ and when two negative numbers are`
			`multiplied the product is always negative.`