negative number raised to even power

[timetraveller]

A fascinating discussion.

From the HP 32S II Owner's Manual:

Page 1-11.

Making Numbers Negative

The +/- key changes the sign of a number.

To key in a negative number, type the number, then press +/-.

To change the sign of a number that was entered previously, just press +/-. (If the number has an exponent, +/- affects only the mantissa - the non-exponent part of the number.)

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Note that last part. There is no mention of negation of the entire calculation, only negation of the mantissa.

The Microsoft support article link on MS EXCEL in a previous post basically says the same thing.

I come from a software environment and have written code since 1968, so I'm well aware of orders of precedence. In the software environment, -4 is the correct answer by virtue of the rules of precedence. But back to the original question of this thread: intuitively on a calculator, when I press the +/- key I want to change the sign of a single entity, not the entire subsequent calculation. For me at least, that was always the purpose of the +/- key.

What I find interesting is how the calculator's role has changed over the last 40 years or so. Today it has assumed the role of a software device (read: computer), thus assuming the computer's methodology of doing things. User beware! Today's calculator user must have at least a rudimentary knowledge of computer-speak!

Bill