rolyaTy
You're Heinous
cont.If you wanted to say (-5)² + 4 x 2³ , you'd have to say "The quantity negative five, squared, plus four times three to the third." If you don't say "The quantity" then you can read the word "negative" as "the opposite of" and you would have to square it first, according to PEMDAS. Saying "The quantity" is equivalent to using parentheses.I understand what he's saying there, but if the person meant to write negative five squared, that doesn't answer the question because the negative sign isn't meant to be the opposite of 5^2, but rather the opposite of five, squared.Maybe that's a good way to look at it. If you need a comma to convey your true meaning if you were saying it to someone, you need parentheses to show that...but if you read it without a comma (ie. the opposite of five squared) then you have to find out what 5 squared is first before you take the opposite.I must say, I have never thought of it like this. I will admit to this too....... My daughter had both problems right the first time, but as I was checking it over last night, I told her they were wrong. She questioned me a little bit, but was confused, and changed them.Gather around peoples....
In mathematics, another word for "negative" is "opposite". Thus, -5 should be thought of as "the oppositive of 5" which means -5^2 is "the opposite of 5^2".
When I got home from work today I faced one angry daughter as she got them both marked wrong, and those were the only 2 she had wrong.
Awesome discussion here tonight, and I'm learning a lot. I am going to make sure to have her read some of this stuff too.
So to me, a math equation doesn't have commas (parentheses) unless they are explicitly stated. So -5² + 4 x 2³ = is read "the opposite of five squared plus four times two to the third" and you apply the order of operations to how that is read.
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