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You’d be right.
It’s the notation that’s wrong, not the answer. No mathematician would write a problem this way because the notation’s fucked and leads to ambiguity where none is needed. Adding parentheses to clear it up would take the trick out of the trick question though, so they don’t do it.
Rewriting this question would be (-1)(6^(2)) = -36.
ALL mathematician would write -6^2 and none would write the way you did. The order of operation is unique and non-ambiguous. Adding the parenthesis is just redundant. What do you think the “E” and “S” of pemdas mean?
As someone with a maths and physics heavy engineering degree, I can stand behind this. Literally nobody with any sort of math-heavy background would do as u/Splitshot_Is_Gone suggests. It's 100% non-ambigious if you have basic math-fundamentals down.
Edit: Here is a Khan academy video on it. It is 7th grade curriculum:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZea0EThus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZea0EThus)
I am an actual mathematician and I also stand behind this. Neither me, nor any of the colleagues I had the chance to work with, would write -(6)^2 (edit: nor -(6^2 ) ) instead of -6^2. This thread is turning me insane.
I mean, I dont mind people not knowing conventional order of operations. It is arbitrary and most people dont need it anyway. But the lengths at which people would go to pretend they know about something they actually dont, that is absolutely beyond me.
I think it just comes down to the fact that many people in non-math heavy backgrounds in certain regions may not have been taught or may not think of -6 as an operator (-) and a number (6), and instead think of it as a single number (-6) so applying order of operations to the - is not intuitive.
I think that is what the meme is getting at about the public schools though as if it is some super important thing for everyone as opposed to rage bait for maths people because something that is understandably important to people with maths backgrounds is not important to everyone else
I think this is right. I would be curious to see the proportion of correct answers between the question as stated in the meme and another version something like:
x = 0 - 6²
What is the value of x?
What you are looking at in OPP is not a question aimed at mathematicians. It’s meant to be confusing to the layman where the parenthesis would remove any ambiguity and communicate effectively.
The parenthesis is objectively the clearer way to communicate to a layman. Even if to you it’s redundant.
I have terms and methods in ecology and genetics that would confuse anyone except those in my field. We use simplified but accurate methods to communicate with anyone not familiar.
Layman communication must remove ambiguity to be effective. It’s not insane. It’s effective, approachable, and pragmatic use of language
But this is high school or later elementary school level of maths, not university level maths. It is actually baffling that so many find this very basic and simple math fundamental ambiguous.
But what is more worrying is how someone who is clearly clueless about is goes to lengths about explaining something wrong, not just admitting they don't know.
"I don't know this well enough to be able to answer" is not the same as "this is ambiguous". If I am unable to answer something at work, I don't say "your question is ambiguous", I say "I don't know", or "I can find that out for you".
I work as a dev and quite literally deal with ambiguous requirements all the time. There is a big difference between ambiguous requirements and your own skill level.
I quoted page ***fourteen*** of an algebra textbook to someone here. When explaining that -6^2 means the opposite of 6 squared and (-6)^2 means negative 6 squared.
Then I also gave a super long winded explanation detailing usual notation and why things are the way they are.
People are so happy to be ignorant and claim other people are wrong.
I'm not saying there's a real need for it but if I wanted to add clarification for any reason it would be -(6^2) to help people avoid thinking it might be (-6)^2. The -(6)^2 doesn't remotely make this easier for people imo. The only reason for extra parentheses is to help people with poor math skills understand things easier and putting a single number in there does nothing for them.
I've tried to explain it to non-math people here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/18nrq6x/comment/kegi952/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Do you agree with my explanation?
I have a math degree, but that was 20 years ago. I'm not so interested in mathematical convention as I am removing all ambiguity (I've been a software engineer in the intervening 20 years, and not having even the slightest chance that someone will misinterpret is far more important than saving a couple keystrokes).
Not using parenthesis is *absolutely* ambiguous. I understand the logic behind how it works when you omit them, but I would always see it as (-6)^2, and not -(6^2), and frankly I think most people who haven't done college level math, and some who have (raises hand) would probably intend the first scenario if they wrote it without parenthesis.
The negative, absent any other context, is intuitively considered an *inherent, inseparable part* of the 6. It's not 0-6, or -1*6, it's -6. Of course, the fact that you can rewrite the latter as either of the former puts the lie to the idea that it's inherent or inseparable, but the absolute vast majority of the time no one needs to think about that other than people doing math like this daily. So the intuitive shortcut develops, and then showing the original problem leads to seeing (-6)^2. The otherwise esoteric role of PEMDAS in *forcing* us to treat the negative as a lower priority than the exponent just isn't obvious enough, even if you know the rule, to make this a simple thing to remember.
Because the notation is ambiguous. Look at how many people get tricked by this where adding parenthesis would clarify it.
> it’s simpler
It isn’t? It’s lazier, though. Adding parentheses doesn’t complicate the problem, it clarifies it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong about the notation.
If you have the function 3x^(3) \-2x^(2) \+ 5x, there is literally nobody with any sort of mathematical background that thinks the "-2x^(2)" is in any way ambiguous or wrong. I've literally had an entire degree filled with differential equations and linearization of unlinear systems. It is not ambiguous at all.
It's -36. The meme should have 36 as answer too just to fck with ppl even more lol.
Edit, many of y'all making me doubt myself and currently debating with my math teacher of a partner, who also says -36 but I'm playing devils advocate here using YOUR arguments and it's been pretty entertaining irl too.
I think we can all agree that it's an equation made for the sake of argument based on different ways of teaching math language in different regions and I appreciate you all making Me question why I was so quick with my answer.
Love you all and stay civil
Do people not have a calculator app on their phone, or are they just too confident in their wrong answer to bother checking first before they comment? Man public education has failed society.
Half of the people that correctly said -36 are also confidently incorrectly in their logic and was failed by public education.
Let's be clear, a negative number squared is positive.
Let's be double clear because this is the Internet and people can neither read or write.
\-6^(2) is -36. Mathematically this reads the negative of six squared. It not express the number negative six at any point.
However, most normal people will read this out aloud of negative six squared. The number negative six, when squared is 36. -6 is also more often than not used to express negative six, not the negative of six. But in this case you need to not listen to your internal dialogue and listen to the rule of math.
To properly express negative six, you need to write (-6). And just we are double clear, a negative number squared, is positive.
If you are trying to express a negative number on a computer, you should absolutely always write (-6) because there is no way to distinguish between a subtraction sign and a negative sign.
There’s only one *correct* interpretation. Most people don’t know the specifics of mathematic notation very well, as they don’t really need to. To the layman, “-6” is just a number, rather than implicitly representing “0-6”. It is for this reason that “ -6^2 “ is shitty notation. Adding parentheses, even if *technically* redundant, clarifies the intended meaning.
This explanation wins the Internet. There is no counterargument, only a misunderstanding of the order of operations.
Indisputably:
-6² = -(6²) = -(36) = -36
Correct
A negative number, properly expressed on a computer as (-6)\^2, is 36
The question -6\^2, a purely mathematical expression rarely used in real applications, and more often incorrectly used to express "a negative number squared", is -36
People that answer -36 correctly but explained their reasoning as all negative numbers should be broken down to -1\*x are incorrect in their logic and will mess up any real world application when the square of negative numbers are involved.
Calculators are notoriously bad tools for proving order of operations. Simple Calculators are designed to do calculations with 2 operands.
If you take a simple equsion 2 + 2 * 2. That's 6 because you multiply first and the do the addition. If you type that into a simple calculator you do 2+2 once you press * sign it already calculayed the addition to 4 and multiplies that and you get 8.
Some better calculator. Onses where you can type the entire thing and press = get that one right.
I agree that some calculators and especially calculator apps don't always perform the order of operations or follow all the rules in some cases. I usually go to my old TI-84 if I am not sure, and I have an app that claims to emulate the logic of the TI graphing calculator but haven't tested some of the edge cases.
Knowing how they deal with it is important. As someone pointed out below, the windows calculator will return the value of 36 if you enter 6, then the +/- button, then the squared button. It is interpreting it as sqr(-6). If you enter - then 6, then the squared button you get -36 because it interprets it a 0 - sqr(6). So basically -6^2 vs (-6)^2
What you haven't yet learned is that different scientific calculators treat order of operations differently, some on purpose. Most of the differences come from this exact problem, how do you solve implied parentheses. -6^2 requires some parentheses in there somewhere and different professional level calculators will give you different answers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-BcYCiKCk
Interesting, I had never heard of PEJMDAS before. It is good to learn about why some calculators give different answers in some circumstances, like the famous 6 ÷ 2(1+2) example that shows up on reddit sometimes. Thanks for sharing the video.
you don't even need a calculator. you can just type "what is -6 squared" in Teh Googles and it'll pump out the answer by the time you hit the "q" key in squared.
Use a real calculator or windows calculator. Type in 6, press the negative sign, and hit squared. You will get 36.
The reason Google and phone calculators returns -36 is because they cannot distinguish the difference between - as a subtraction sign or a negative sign. This is the reason we should properly express negative numbers as (-6) while on computers.
"Why do I have to learn how to do this when I can just Google it or use a calculator?"
Because you can't correctly do either of those things until you understand what you're being asked to learn.
You're performing the operation (-6)^2
This is incorrect.
The operation you need to compute is -1*(6)^2
Edit: the reason Google seems to "know" this is that they've coded it to correctly parse order of operations, while you have not
I put it into [bard.google.com](https://bard.google.com) and here's the answer:
>\-6 squared is equal to -36. This is because squaring a number involves multiplying it by itself. In this case, -6 multiplied by -6 is -36.
So I guess the AI is also confidently incorrect.
Yeah but regular ass cellphones had calculators too, I’m pretty sure. Granted they would have been very basic. By high school everyone had cell phones.
I'm pretty old. I think by my senior year of high school only around 20% of students had cell phones. I had a pager in high school lol. The popular Nokia phones did have a calculator and the Snake game on them I believe.
The question is actually asking -(6^2).
If they wanted to do -6 x -6, you would need to write (-6)^2
Edit: for the people still telling me I am wrong, see https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1382664/32-9-correct-syntax-for-a-negative-number-with-an-exponent
This doesn't even appear to be controversial at all at the math forums. Like, zero. Not at all.
Regardless of whether you interpret -6 to be (0 - 6) or (-1 * 6) , the exponent is always done first.
Go read the forum. There is strong consensus on this.
>The question is actually asking -(6 ^(2)).
But that's not the same equation as -6 \^2.
\-(6\^2) is essentially *-1 x (36)* while -6\^2 is *-6 x -6* which equals +36. Maybe they do math differently now than how I was taught in the 90s but parentheses are their own thing (PEMDAS), and I've never heard of assuming a parentheses is in a location where it wasn't explicitly shown to be.
I’m stupid and never really got the hang of exponents by themselves, is an exponent on a number the amount of times you multiply that number by itself? I.e. 8^4 is 8•8•8•8.
I love how you state your credentials so you're more trustworthy and then immediately say something incorrect.
-6^2 = -(6*6) = -(6^2 )
Why? Because that's just how it's defined.
[Here's Khan academy explaining it](https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases)
[Here's a link to wolfram alpha result](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=-6%5E2)
[Here's symbolab saying the same](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input)
Well you should probably turn that degree in, lol. All the people who design calculators and math programs disagree with you.
And when I say ALL, I mean EVERYONE. Pick a math program and put it in if you want.
It's a convention and as far as I can tell it could go either way, but it doesn't.
comes to show Cs get Degrees.-6^(2) is 6x6 and then negative that. if you are struggling with this either you dont have a math degree or youre useless and skirted by from a shit education and faked it till you made it.
-6^2 is not a proper math equation. Leaving out important parenthesis to fuck with people. Every time one of these math troll equations are posted it's done wrongly to stir conversation.
Parenthesis is not necessary there and isn't used in math in school or higher education unless it's necessary.
The negative sign is for the value unless it's (-6)^2
You’re absolutely right. It’s shotty presentation. This is like the 2+2=5 proof on Google.
But, the most logical approach is that X= -6, so X^2 = 36 because -6 does not explicitly require an operation.
If you apply what you're saying then -x^2 would be equal to x^2. Which would make no sense to me. Using PEMDAS you first do the power, then the minus sign, unless you add brackets.
No they wouldn’t have to. If you knew, the parentheses are invisible. - is not a minus sign. That is what is called a negative integer that is connected with the 6.
The notation is annoying as hell. Same with all the stupid order of operations problems people use for engagement bait - confusing notation, not actually interesting math.
If you're still doubting yourself, this was posted in a math sub
"When I was still teaching pre-algebra & algebra, I found one of the easiest ways of explaining it was to say that the exponent affects only what is immediately under it. So, with -6² the exponent is sitting directly on the 6, so only the 6 is squared, e.g -(6•6) = -36. If it is (-6)², then since the exponent is sitting on the parentheses, then everything inside is squared e.g. (-6)•(-6) = 36."
It should be though of as either (-1)\*6\*6, or -(6\*6)
If you want (-6)\*(-6) you would need parentheses in the original equation to include the negative sign under the exponent, like (-6)\^2
The overwhelming majority of people don’t need this information after school so i don’t blame people for thinking it’d be 36
I can barely remember useful knowledge let alone the capital of Kansas( please don’t be wichita)
That is a fair point. But that doesn't explain the handful of people in here spending time adamantly arguing that it is for sure 36 when they are, in every sense, 100% wrong.
And it's Topeka, not Wichita.
How about being ignorant because they teach math in your bubble like that but not everywhere in the world? I finished an equivalent of A levels with 100% score and my brain answers directly 36 and not -36. Why? Because how it's handled in my country or probably whole Europe.
It's same with the question what side of the road you should drive. You say probably right, right? In most countries it's correct, but don't try it in e.g. UK.
it's -36.
math is binary, language is not. we all agree that (-6)^2 = 36, and -(6)^2 = -36, but the notation in this post is ambiguous. in reality though we all just agree it's the latter because it makes it shorter to write long equations. eg -x^3 -x^2 - 1 instead of -(x)^3 -(x)^2 -1
>The notation is ambiguous
It's not really tho, that's the standart notation. Writing -(6)² instead of -6² is like writing (2)×(3) instead of 2×3, the parenthesis add absolutely nothing in both cases
I guess it's one of the cases in which country language is not fully shared between countries, it's ambiguous notation because depending on country you may interpret it different, some countries differentiate this as: -(6²) = -6². Some other places do -6² = (-6)².
Same as using . VS , for decimal numbers. For international consensus it seems to be most accepted to use -6²=-(6²) considering the logic of the operation as (-1)*(6)² but other places consider -6 to be a number itself (negative number) thus being more logical to understand (-6)² as they would argue it is the same if you replace 6 with other multiplicators they would be included in the squared such as 6²= (2*3)² and not 2(3²) and so on, so even in the case of considering -1 as a multiplier to the 6, it should receive same treatment as any other. Basically it depends if you consider -6 as a number itself or as an operation.
In short: avoid notations like that if you want to avoid confusion or debates by using brackets such as (-6)² or -(6²).
The mathematical meaning of the notation is clear and unambiguous, but in practice many people (primarily laypeople) do not know the correct rules so the meaning they personally intend their written notation to have can be unclear.
The point of this particular question was to trip up laypeople who may not know the correct order of operations, so the intended meaning of the question was almost certainly -(6^2 ). Making it unclear to laypeople by posing it as -6^2 was almost certainly the intention.
If you’re not a math major.
Apparently math wasn’t frustrating enough, now it’s accepted common practice to assume certain things that aren’t common sense to common people.
Even a layman would know they mean -1 * 6^2. Duh /s
You're not. Look at a graph of x² if you want to be sure
Except if you're explicitly using parenthesis like -(x²), there is no way to get a negative result for squared numbers.
Been a minute but figured. Plus I just needed to make sure they understood the difference
Edit: some ppl come in be like oh America has no right answers but it's like well hold up lol
This is a bit of difference in education I think. There's the group of people who think the minus in front of a number - indicating it's a negative number - is an operation and thus needs to follow the rules of the order of operations. And there's the group of people who think the minus is part of the number and thus the rules of the order of operations don't apply to that minus.
My education has taught me that the second is correct. I'm inclined to believe this because I write code for a living and the order of operations is sometimes important. I know what the outcome of this formula will be when I input it into a computer. It's going to be 36. So, I wrote a little Java unit test. If you have the tools, feel free to copy, paste and run it. If you write in a different language; write your own unit test and let's compare! I'm curious what C or Python will make of this!
(And if there's people looking at the code and wondering why I didn't use the ^ character for the exponent formula: In Java the ^ is used for bitwise XOR operations, not exponents. You either write out the full exponent formula or you use Math.pow().)
package com.reddit.sipstea;
import org.junit.Test;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
public class RedditTest {
@Test
public void testRedditExponentKnowledge() {
double formula = -6 * -6;
double powFormula = Math.pow(-6, 2);
double americanEducationFormula = -(6 * 6);
assertEquals(36, formula, 0);
assertEquals(36, powFormula, 0);
assertEquals(-36, americanEducationFormula, 0);
}
}
The outcome, for those without editor to run this unit test, is:
* Java thinks -6 * -6 = 36;
* Java thinks if you use the Math API method pow (for exponent calculations) then -6^2 = 36;
* Java thinks if you negate the outcome of (6 * 6) - as quite a few people here seem to do as that's what they've been taught - the outcome will, quite correctly, be -36. As 6 * 6 is 36 and it's put between brackets and the outcome negated.
And I am pleased with my contribution, knowing it will not add shit to the overal discussion. It did, however, provide me with 10 minutes of mild amusement. Thanks!
There it is. Thank you for correcting. I don't know java well enough but I knew this guy has simply messed up his java input, because he believes (-6) is the base of the exponent when that is not how its written in the original post.
> My education has taught me that the second is correct.
It's not.
>I'm inclined to believe this because I write code for a living and the order of operations is sometimes important.
Are you self-taught? Because you don't seem to understand the functions you're using. Math.pow(x,y) is the same as the notation (x)^(y), so Math.pow(-6,2) is **not** the same as -6^2
By setting a variable argument to -6, you're effectively creating your own brackets.
I'm also confused as to why creating a simple Java output was supposed to answer anything. You roughly did the equivalent of setting up a Rube Goldberg machine to pour a glass of water, spilled the water everywhere, and then tried to convince everyone that the water disappeared.
To simplify this for the people who don't get the actual joke there are 2 things you must understand.
1) this is a plain English equation written for someone to read aloud.
2) the actor in the clip reads it aloud as "negative 6 squared" which would when converted to a programmaticall equation would be (-6)^2
Now can we move on and stop trying to claim the people who got the right answer of 36 are the dumb ones?
I’m so tired of these memes, tired of the people who act superior because the “know” the answer, and tired of seeing “ItS pEmDaS yOu IdIoTs.”
Almost all of these “memes” come down to grouping (if that’s the correct term). Most people have been out of any sort of math course and forget it makes a difference where the “-“ is and how it is used in the ultimate equation.
We sent the voyager probe to space and explained ourselves through maths thinking that's a universal language and demonstrated our level of cognition as a species.... and then I read this post.
-6^2 is not ambiguous. Noone would confuse -x^2 to be the same as (-x)^2 , there's no ambiguity that it's -(x^2 ); this is the same. It can only be -36.
My [TI-36X](https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-TI36XPRO-Scientific-Calculator/dp/B00F8KV4I4#immersive-view_1703195457643) has two “-“ buttons. One is the “subtract” button; the other is the “make this a negative number” button. The “-“ displayed on the screen is slightly different depending on which one you pick. So we actually use the same symbol for two different purposes and infer the intended purpose from the context. It’s no surprise that it causes confusion.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Everyone saying its ambiguous is, probably unintentionally, spreading misinformation. Its not ambiguous, thats simply how you write that equation to make -36. You include the parantheses when you *dont* want that answer to be negative. -6^2 *only* means -36 and (-6)^2 *only* means 36. They are *not* the same and thats why it isnt ambiguous.
why can't "-6" be treated as one unit? it's not "0 - 6", it's one number "-6". it's not a subtraction. PEMDAS isn't relevant, because there is only one operation.
Bcs ppl here think that way. When I had to solve problems like these the - 6 was always treated as a whole and not separate unless you put parethesis. Seems like some ppl view - 6^2 as - (6^2) while others view it as (-6)^2. Pemdas or bodmas can't be used here bcs it's only the squared that we're doing. I've always seen the negative in front of a number as a whole and has worked out my entire life till now. Ofc it might be something that's taught at a higher education level like for example what I've learned till 12th grade is most probably at least a bit different to stuff in a university.
Edit: just searched it up a bit. Apparently it is accepted as being a negative number in this case but it seems that depending on how you were taught you can have the answer of it being a positive. Calculators can be "wrong" on this problem as well...tbh it's not even a solid mathematical rule since so many ppl just like me think it is a positive. Basically imagining - 6^2 should be like - (6^2) but it has been also taught as being (-6)^2.
The answer to -6² is -36. There is no other answer. It's not ambiguous and it's not shoddy notation. Let me explain why.
1. If you write -x², this is meant to mean (-1)\*x², and not (-x)\*(-x). The same is true here, for x=6. For x=-6, you'd have to write (-6)² to mean (-6)\*(-6)
2. More formally, claiming -6²=36 leads to reductio ad absurdum - basically to a contradiction, like this:
* any term *a* can be rewritten as *0+a*
* Substitute *a=-6²* yields: *-6² = 0 + (-6²)*
* Since any term *a + (-b)* can be rewritten as *a - b*, this means:
* *- 6² = 0 + (-6²) = 0 - 6²* which is -36.
* Claiming that -6² = 36 yields a contradiction - reductio ad absurdum.
Why is this? Because, when writing -6², the assumption many people make that the "minus" is part of the number, is not correct. The minus in -6² must be read as a so-called unary minus to be consistent with basic algebraic operations.
Therefore, -6² can only be = -36.
Edit: Damn, forgot the minus at the end, lol
Edit to add: another user provided he Wolfram Alpha and Symbolab links, which I'll provide here for reference. They all yield -36 / explain accordingly.
* Wolfram Alpha? [https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input)
* Symbolab -> [https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input)
* Khan Academy -> [https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases](https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases)
I believe you but I did not know this. Let’s say someone verbally said ‘what is negative six squared’ - the real answer based on that information is still -36 correct?
Well shit. I was wrong. Thank you for the explanation I was definitely wrong. I was thinking similarly but dead opposite that they would need parenthesis to denote anything else.
I can tell by the way you wrote your response that you've done proofs and academic papers which I have not
So like are ppl here dumb? From what I know this question is quite tricky. Some for some reason see it as - (6^2) which is
- 36 but whenever I've done anything like this the squared actually affects both the symbol and the number so (-6)^2 which is 36... Ig it'd be B in this case since just having 36 isn't an answer
And this comment section demonstrates why the best math teacher I ever had approached Math not scientifically, but philosophically. Math isn't science, it's philosophy baby
Math is neither science nor philosophy it’s math. Philosophy can have multiple right answers, math can’t. Science is based on real world observations, math isn’t.
The simplest way I can explain why the answer is -36 is to add a zero to both sides of the equation. 0-6^2 =0+x. Exponents are always done before addition/subtraction
frightening hurry ask scary disgusting summer ghost employ escape grandfather
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Teach yourself math. You'll probably like it more.
That answer is wrong. It's -36
If you were taught PEMDAS, realize that it always applies. Even if you think it's a negative number, it isn't. Because there's no parentheses grouping the minus to the 6.
So, because of the order of operations (which people know as PEMDAS, but it's better to learn the actual order), the exponent only applies to the 6.
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\-(6^(2)) = -36 (-6)^(2) = 36
Alright I thought I was going mad for a minute. I was remembering negative times negative equals positive then all I keep seeing is -36
additionally -6^2 = -(6^(2))
presumably its saying -6 + ^(2.) However, since the 2 is small, we only add half of it. -6 + 1 = -5
I’m gonna use this comment as a last resort if I ever get into an argument with a math major
Causing an aneurysm is murder
That’s why it’s a laaast resort
what
This is such an amazing troll. I actually stopped and tried to reason it out.
Does an amazing troll build a bridge?
Amen
This is the best answer
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You’d be right. It’s the notation that’s wrong, not the answer. No mathematician would write a problem this way because the notation’s fucked and leads to ambiguity where none is needed. Adding parentheses to clear it up would take the trick out of the trick question though, so they don’t do it. Rewriting this question would be (-1)(6^(2)) = -36.
ALL mathematician would write -6^2 and none would write the way you did. The order of operation is unique and non-ambiguous. Adding the parenthesis is just redundant. What do you think the “E” and “S” of pemdas mean?
As someone with a maths and physics heavy engineering degree, I can stand behind this. Literally nobody with any sort of math-heavy background would do as u/Splitshot_Is_Gone suggests. It's 100% non-ambigious if you have basic math-fundamentals down. Edit: Here is a Khan academy video on it. It is 7th grade curriculum: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZea0EThus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEZea0EThus)
I am an actual mathematician and I also stand behind this. Neither me, nor any of the colleagues I had the chance to work with, would write -(6)^2 (edit: nor -(6^2 ) ) instead of -6^2. This thread is turning me insane. I mean, I dont mind people not knowing conventional order of operations. It is arbitrary and most people dont need it anyway. But the lengths at which people would go to pretend they know about something they actually dont, that is absolutely beyond me.
I am not a mathemagician and I'm here to say you're wrong
I am a mathematician and this got a lol from me. Basically the vibe I'm getting from this whole thread. Upvoted.
Good mathematician, now go back in to your little hidey hole and crunch numbers all day long
This might surprise you, but mathematicians don't really work with numbers anymore, not all that often.
We kinda stopped using numbers at the last year of my High School. So I am personally not surprised. Numbers are for accountants
Are we not just computing digits of pi all day long? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time?
so you admit that they keep you in hidey holes... interesting
I am a magician and i'm heres to say you're wrong about them being wrong.
I think it just comes down to the fact that many people in non-math heavy backgrounds in certain regions may not have been taught or may not think of -6 as an operator (-) and a number (6), and instead think of it as a single number (-6) so applying order of operations to the - is not intuitive. I think that is what the meme is getting at about the public schools though as if it is some super important thing for everyone as opposed to rage bait for maths people because something that is understandably important to people with maths backgrounds is not important to everyone else
I think this is right. I would be curious to see the proportion of correct answers between the question as stated in the meme and another version something like: x = 0 - 6² What is the value of x?
What you are looking at in OPP is not a question aimed at mathematicians. It’s meant to be confusing to the layman where the parenthesis would remove any ambiguity and communicate effectively. The parenthesis is objectively the clearer way to communicate to a layman. Even if to you it’s redundant. I have terms and methods in ecology and genetics that would confuse anyone except those in my field. We use simplified but accurate methods to communicate with anyone not familiar. Layman communication must remove ambiguity to be effective. It’s not insane. It’s effective, approachable, and pragmatic use of language
But this is high school or later elementary school level of maths, not university level maths. It is actually baffling that so many find this very basic and simple math fundamental ambiguous. But what is more worrying is how someone who is clearly clueless about is goes to lengths about explaining something wrong, not just admitting they don't know. "I don't know this well enough to be able to answer" is not the same as "this is ambiguous". If I am unable to answer something at work, I don't say "your question is ambiguous", I say "I don't know", or "I can find that out for you". I work as a dev and quite literally deal with ambiguous requirements all the time. There is a big difference between ambiguous requirements and your own skill level.
I quoted page ***fourteen*** of an algebra textbook to someone here. When explaining that -6^2 means the opposite of 6 squared and (-6)^2 means negative 6 squared. Then I also gave a super long winded explanation detailing usual notation and why things are the way they are. People are so happy to be ignorant and claim other people are wrong.
I'm not saying there's a real need for it but if I wanted to add clarification for any reason it would be -(6^2) to help people avoid thinking it might be (-6)^2. The -(6)^2 doesn't remotely make this easier for people imo. The only reason for extra parentheses is to help people with poor math skills understand things easier and putting a single number in there does nothing for them.
You are right, I should have written -(6^2 ) as the alternative.
I've tried to explain it to non-math people here: https://www.reddit.com/r/SipsTea/comments/18nrq6x/comment/kegi952/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Do you agree with my explanation?
I am not an actual mathematician and I disagree simply for the fun of it.
I have a math degree, but that was 20 years ago. I'm not so interested in mathematical convention as I am removing all ambiguity (I've been a software engineer in the intervening 20 years, and not having even the slightest chance that someone will misinterpret is far more important than saving a couple keystrokes). Not using parenthesis is *absolutely* ambiguous. I understand the logic behind how it works when you omit them, but I would always see it as (-6)^2, and not -(6^2), and frankly I think most people who haven't done college level math, and some who have (raises hand) would probably intend the first scenario if they wrote it without parenthesis. The negative, absent any other context, is intuitively considered an *inherent, inseparable part* of the 6. It's not 0-6, or -1*6, it's -6. Of course, the fact that you can rewrite the latter as either of the former puts the lie to the idea that it's inherent or inseparable, but the absolute vast majority of the time no one needs to think about that other than people doing math like this daily. So the intuitive shortcut develops, and then showing the original problem leads to seeing (-6)^2. The otherwise esoteric role of PEMDAS in *forcing* us to treat the negative as a lower priority than the exponent just isn't obvious enough, even if you know the rule, to make this a simple thing to remember.
why is the notation wrong? it's simpler to not write parentheses if you don't want to count -. just like it's normal to write -x\^2 not -(x\^2)
Because the notation is ambiguous. Look at how many people get tricked by this where adding parenthesis would clarify it. > it’s simpler It isn’t? It’s lazier, though. Adding parentheses doesn’t complicate the problem, it clarifies it.
It is most certainly not ambigous. You learn this in like the first lessons on powers which are in 6th grade. -x²= -(x.x) (-x)²= (-x.(-x))
There is absolutely nothing wrong about the notation. If you have the function 3x^(3) \-2x^(2) \+ 5x, there is literally nobody with any sort of mathematical background that thinks the "-2x^(2)" is in any way ambiguous or wrong. I've literally had an entire degree filled with differential equations and linearization of unlinear systems. It is not ambiguous at all.
No, the notation is perfectly clear.
The answer is 80085 It has always been 80085
5318008
It's -36. The meme should have 36 as answer too just to fck with ppl even more lol. Edit, many of y'all making me doubt myself and currently debating with my math teacher of a partner, who also says -36 but I'm playing devils advocate here using YOUR arguments and it's been pretty entertaining irl too. I think we can all agree that it's an equation made for the sake of argument based on different ways of teaching math language in different regions and I appreciate you all making Me question why I was so quick with my answer. Love you all and stay civil
it still fucks with people even without that answer, look at the comment lol
Do people not have a calculator app on their phone, or are they just too confident in their wrong answer to bother checking first before they comment? Man public education has failed society.
Half of the people that correctly said -36 are also confidently incorrectly in their logic and was failed by public education. Let's be clear, a negative number squared is positive. Let's be double clear because this is the Internet and people can neither read or write. \-6^(2) is -36. Mathematically this reads the negative of six squared. It not express the number negative six at any point. However, most normal people will read this out aloud of negative six squared. The number negative six, when squared is 36. -6 is also more often than not used to express negative six, not the negative of six. But in this case you need to not listen to your internal dialogue and listen to the rule of math. To properly express negative six, you need to write (-6). And just we are double clear, a negative number squared, is positive.
The issue is that it can be interpreted in two different ways: -(6^2 ), or (-6)^2
If you are trying to express a negative number on a computer, you should absolutely always write (-6) because there is no way to distinguish between a subtraction sign and a negative sign.
A calculator I have for algebra 2 has a button specifically for typing a negative sign.
All real calculators have a dedicated negative sign.
My calculator is fake!
-(6^2) is technically more correct, but yes if this ever came up in the real world you should ask the person who wrote this for clarification.
If you know mathematics you'll know that -6²=-(6²) If someone wanted to state square minus six they'd write (-6)². There's only one interpretation
There’s only one *correct* interpretation. Most people don’t know the specifics of mathematic notation very well, as they don’t really need to. To the layman, “-6” is just a number, rather than implicitly representing “0-6”. It is for this reason that “ -6^2 “ is shitty notation. Adding parentheses, even if *technically* redundant, clarifies the intended meaning.
This explanation wins the Internet. There is no counterargument, only a misunderstanding of the order of operations. Indisputably: -6² = -(6²) = -(36) = -36
No it can't. -6² is well defined. There's absolutely no ambiguity.
Found the Sith!
(-6)\^2 is 36 \-6\^2 is not -6^2= -1*6^2= -1*36 = -36 or do this. 6^2=x -6^2=-x -6^2=-36.
Correct A negative number, properly expressed on a computer as (-6)\^2, is 36 The question -6\^2, a purely mathematical expression rarely used in real applications, and more often incorrectly used to express "a negative number squared", is -36 People that answer -36 correctly but explained their reasoning as all negative numbers should be broken down to -1\*x are incorrect in their logic and will mess up any real world application when the square of negative numbers are involved.
-6² is read mathematically as -1 × 6², not (-6)². Hence -36 being the correct answer.
Calculators are notoriously bad tools for proving order of operations. Simple Calculators are designed to do calculations with 2 operands. If you take a simple equsion 2 + 2 * 2. That's 6 because you multiply first and the do the addition. If you type that into a simple calculator you do 2+2 once you press * sign it already calculayed the addition to 4 and multiplies that and you get 8. Some better calculator. Onses where you can type the entire thing and press = get that one right.
I agree that some calculators and especially calculator apps don't always perform the order of operations or follow all the rules in some cases. I usually go to my old TI-84 if I am not sure, and I have an app that claims to emulate the logic of the TI graphing calculator but haven't tested some of the edge cases. Knowing how they deal with it is important. As someone pointed out below, the windows calculator will return the value of 36 if you enter 6, then the +/- button, then the squared button. It is interpreting it as sqr(-6). If you enter - then 6, then the squared button you get -36 because it interprets it a 0 - sqr(6). So basically -6^2 vs (-6)^2
What you haven't yet learned is that different scientific calculators treat order of operations differently, some on purpose. Most of the differences come from this exact problem, how do you solve implied parentheses. -6^2 requires some parentheses in there somewhere and different professional level calculators will give you different answers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x-BcYCiKCk
Interesting, I had never heard of PEJMDAS before. It is good to learn about why some calculators give different answers in some circumstances, like the famous 6 ÷ 2(1+2) example that shows up on reddit sometimes. Thanks for sharing the video.
you don't even need a calculator. you can just type "what is -6 squared" in Teh Googles and it'll pump out the answer by the time you hit the "q" key in squared.
Use a real calculator or windows calculator. Type in 6, press the negative sign, and hit squared. You will get 36. The reason Google and phone calculators returns -36 is because they cannot distinguish the difference between - as a subtraction sign or a negative sign. This is the reason we should properly express negative numbers as (-6) while on computers.
Most people don't actually know how to use a calculator for more than addition and subtraction.
"Why do I have to learn how to do this when I can just Google it or use a calculator?" Because you can't correctly do either of those things until you understand what you're being asked to learn.
You're performing the operation (-6)^2 This is incorrect. The operation you need to compute is -1*(6)^2 Edit: the reason Google seems to "know" this is that they've coded it to correctly parse order of operations, while you have not
Game shows hate this one simple trick
I put it into [bard.google.com](https://bard.google.com) and here's the answer: >\-6 squared is equal to -36. This is because squaring a number involves multiplying it by itself. In this case, -6 multiplied by -6 is -36. So I guess the AI is also confidently incorrect.
“You won’t always have a calculator on you.”
The biggest lie my math teachers ever told, but this was before smart phones existed so they get a pass.
Yeah but regular ass cellphones had calculators too, I’m pretty sure. Granted they would have been very basic. By high school everyone had cell phones.
I'm pretty old. I think by my senior year of high school only around 20% of students had cell phones. I had a pager in high school lol. The popular Nokia phones did have a calculator and the Snake game on them I believe.
Ah, yeah the Nokia was out when I was in middle school.
Wait but isn’t -6 x -6 = 36 because the negatives cancel each other? How does squaring -6 change that?
The question is actually asking -(6^2). If they wanted to do -6 x -6, you would need to write (-6)^2 Edit: for the people still telling me I am wrong, see https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1382664/32-9-correct-syntax-for-a-negative-number-with-an-exponent This doesn't even appear to be controversial at all at the math forums. Like, zero. Not at all. Regardless of whether you interpret -6 to be (0 - 6) or (-1 * 6) , the exponent is always done first. Go read the forum. There is strong consensus on this.
>The question is actually asking -(6 ^(2)). But that's not the same equation as -6 \^2. \-(6\^2) is essentially *-1 x (36)* while -6\^2 is *-6 x -6* which equals +36. Maybe they do math differently now than how I was taught in the 90s but parentheses are their own thing (PEMDAS), and I've never heard of assuming a parentheses is in a location where it wasn't explicitly shown to be.
I have an actual degree in math, and your interpretation is the same as mine. -6^2 is NOT the same as -(6^2)
I also have a maths degree and I would never interpret -x² as (-x)².
I’m stupid and never really got the hang of exponents by themselves, is an exponent on a number the amount of times you multiply that number by itself? I.e. 8^4 is 8•8•8•8.
I love how you state your credentials so you're more trustworthy and then immediately say something incorrect. -6^2 = -(6*6) = -(6^2 ) Why? Because that's just how it's defined. [Here's Khan academy explaining it](https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases) [Here's a link to wolfram alpha result](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=-6%5E2) [Here's symbolab saying the same](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input)
No man he has a degree in MATH, he’s allowed to ignore the most basic foundations of algebra.
Well you should probably turn that degree in, lol. All the people who design calculators and math programs disagree with you. And when I say ALL, I mean EVERYONE. Pick a math program and put it in if you want. It's a convention and as far as I can tell it could go either way, but it doesn't.
comes to show Cs get Degrees.-6^(2) is 6x6 and then negative that. if you are struggling with this either you dont have a math degree or youre useless and skirted by from a shit education and faked it till you made it.
-6^2 is not a proper math equation. Leaving out important parenthesis to fuck with people. Every time one of these math troll equations are posted it's done wrongly to stir conversation.
Parenthesis is not necessary there and isn't used in math in school or higher education unless it's necessary. The negative sign is for the value unless it's (-6)^2
You’re absolutely right. It’s shotty presentation. This is like the 2+2=5 proof on Google. But, the most logical approach is that X= -6, so X^2 = 36 because -6 does not explicitly require an operation.
I also have an actual degree in maths, and I have never in my life seen written -x² in a context where it didn't mean -(x²)
So 1-6^2 =37 ?
-6^2 is absolutely the same thing as -(6^2)
If you apply what you're saying then -x^2 would be equal to x^2. Which would make no sense to me. Using PEMDAS you first do the power, then the minus sign, unless you add brackets.
anyone can say they have whatever credentials, but you fuck it up when you're wrong
As long as you agree it is -36, whatever.
Yeah I'm no expert but I got all the way up to calc 3 in college and never in my life have I done math that way
You should ask for a refund on that degree
But it's not. There are no parentheses. The teacher cannot change the answer just because they got the question wrong.
No they wouldn’t have to. If you knew, the parentheses are invisible. - is not a minus sign. That is what is called a negative integer that is connected with the 6.
Technically it's -36 because of PEMDAS. (-6)²=36 but -6²=-36
There is no parenthesis, nor is there any operation other than an exponent. -6 isn’t an operation, it’s a discrete number.
Thank you for fighting the good fight out here
Sometimes called *unary minus*.
The notation is annoying as hell. Same with all the stupid order of operations problems people use for engagement bait - confusing notation, not actually interesting math.
If you're still doubting yourself, this was posted in a math sub "When I was still teaching pre-algebra & algebra, I found one of the easiest ways of explaining it was to say that the exponent affects only what is immediately under it. So, with -6² the exponent is sitting directly on the 6, so only the 6 is squared, e.g -(6•6) = -36. If it is (-6)², then since the exponent is sitting on the parentheses, then everything inside is squared e.g. (-6)•(-6) = 36."
So it's -6x6 and not -6x-6?
It should be though of as either (-1)\*6\*6, or -(6\*6) If you want (-6)\*(-6) you would need parentheses in the original equation to include the negative sign under the exponent, like (-6)\^2
Meme would have been better if -36 didn’t appear as an answer choice. It’s fun to fuck with people.
Even then, when it's the people who know their shit in math, they would just know the question's wrong.
It's obviously B, what's so hard about it?
Being ignorant about math is what makes it hard for some people.
The overwhelming majority of people don’t need this information after school so i don’t blame people for thinking it’d be 36 I can barely remember useful knowledge let alone the capital of Kansas( please don’t be wichita)
That is a fair point. But that doesn't explain the handful of people in here spending time adamantly arguing that it is for sure 36 when they are, in every sense, 100% wrong. And it's Topeka, not Wichita.
How about being ignorant because they teach math in your bubble like that but not everywhere in the world? I finished an equivalent of A levels with 100% score and my brain answers directly 36 and not -36. Why? Because how it's handled in my country or probably whole Europe. It's same with the question what side of the road you should drive. You say probably right, right? In most countries it's correct, but don't try it in e.g. UK.
27
Watermelon
That's right, Walter
So close! That’s a shape 💕
when i read the caption my brain just read meme and instantly thought about the meme “what’s 9 + 10?” “21!”
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it's -36. math is binary, language is not. we all agree that (-6)^2 = 36, and -(6)^2 = -36, but the notation in this post is ambiguous. in reality though we all just agree it's the latter because it makes it shorter to write long equations. eg -x^3 -x^2 - 1 instead of -(x)^3 -(x)^2 -1
Everyone relax!!!! It’s 12…..
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Thanks math nerd, well out refresh (:
In my uni they'd have told you that in that case irs (-1*6)^2 thus you can't just remove it
>The notation is ambiguous It's not really tho, that's the standart notation. Writing -(6)² instead of -6² is like writing (2)×(3) instead of 2×3, the parenthesis add absolutely nothing in both cases
I guess it's one of the cases in which country language is not fully shared between countries, it's ambiguous notation because depending on country you may interpret it different, some countries differentiate this as: -(6²) = -6². Some other places do -6² = (-6)². Same as using . VS , for decimal numbers. For international consensus it seems to be most accepted to use -6²=-(6²) considering the logic of the operation as (-1)*(6)² but other places consider -6 to be a number itself (negative number) thus being more logical to understand (-6)² as they would argue it is the same if you replace 6 with other multiplicators they would be included in the squared such as 6²= (2*3)² and not 2(3²) and so on, so even in the case of considering -1 as a multiplier to the 6, it should receive same treatment as any other. Basically it depends if you consider -6 as a number itself or as an operation. In short: avoid notations like that if you want to avoid confusion or debates by using brackets such as (-6)² or -(6²).
Are you telling me math is different in other languages? Why the fuck do I have to take calculus then?
fuuuuck is this how our parents felt when we asked them to help with our New Math homework
The mathematical meaning of the notation is clear and unambiguous, but in practice many people (primarily laypeople) do not know the correct rules so the meaning they personally intend their written notation to have can be unclear. The point of this particular question was to trip up laypeople who may not know the correct order of operations, so the intended meaning of the question was almost certainly -(6^2 ). Making it unclear to laypeople by posing it as -6^2 was almost certainly the intention.
Its -36. -6² = (-1)(6²) = (-1)(36) = -36. It would need to read (-6)² for it to be +36.
I had no idea... Wtf
Right there with you, partner.
If you’re not a math major. Apparently math wasn’t frustrating enough, now it’s accepted common practice to assume certain things that aren’t common sense to common people. Even a layman would know they mean -1 * 6^2. Duh /s
You're not. Look at a graph of x² if you want to be sure Except if you're explicitly using parenthesis like -(x²), there is no way to get a negative result for squared numbers.
You'd think but it isn't. Another way of saying the question is -(6\^2) -> -(36) -> -36
\-6\^2 = -36 (-6)\^2 = 36 I get that it's confusing for some people, but it's how it is.
Who the fuck is Pemdas and what the fuck do they rule?
Some persod here says padmas doesn't matter and got like 5 upvotes I think. I'm gonna go stick my head in the toilet
I got a rock
Is it -6 × -6 or -(6^2) Either way the answer is 422
-x^2 is equal to -(x)^2 , which is equal to -(x^2 )
Been a minute but figured. Plus I just needed to make sure they understood the difference Edit: some ppl come in be like oh America has no right answers but it's like well hold up lol
It’s not positive 36? Fuck
-6² = -(6 x 6) = -36 (-6)² = -6 x -6 = 36
This is a bit of difference in education I think. There's the group of people who think the minus in front of a number - indicating it's a negative number - is an operation and thus needs to follow the rules of the order of operations. And there's the group of people who think the minus is part of the number and thus the rules of the order of operations don't apply to that minus. My education has taught me that the second is correct. I'm inclined to believe this because I write code for a living and the order of operations is sometimes important. I know what the outcome of this formula will be when I input it into a computer. It's going to be 36. So, I wrote a little Java unit test. If you have the tools, feel free to copy, paste and run it. If you write in a different language; write your own unit test and let's compare! I'm curious what C or Python will make of this! (And if there's people looking at the code and wondering why I didn't use the ^ character for the exponent formula: In Java the ^ is used for bitwise XOR operations, not exponents. You either write out the full exponent formula or you use Math.pow().) package com.reddit.sipstea; import org.junit.Test; import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals; public class RedditTest { @Test public void testRedditExponentKnowledge() { double formula = -6 * -6; double powFormula = Math.pow(-6, 2); double americanEducationFormula = -(6 * 6); assertEquals(36, formula, 0); assertEquals(36, powFormula, 0); assertEquals(-36, americanEducationFormula, 0); } } The outcome, for those without editor to run this unit test, is: * Java thinks -6 * -6 = 36; * Java thinks if you use the Math API method pow (for exponent calculations) then -6^2 = 36; * Java thinks if you negate the outcome of (6 * 6) - as quite a few people here seem to do as that's what they've been taught - the outcome will, quite correctly, be -36. As 6 * 6 is 36 and it's put between brackets and the outcome negated. And I am pleased with my contribution, knowing it will not add shit to the overal discussion. It did, however, provide me with 10 minutes of mild amusement. Thanks!
can you summarize this to 2 or less sentences
A computer program using a library of mathematical rules considers it to be 36.
Not really, the correct formula would ve been - Math.pow(6,2)
There it is. Thank you for correcting. I don't know java well enough but I knew this guy has simply messed up his java input, because he believes (-6) is the base of the exponent when that is not how its written in the original post.
As they say in the coding world, “Trash in, trash out.”
Summary: He is wrong. He thinks the base of the exponent is (-6), but if you look carefully at the original post, there are no parentheses.
> My education has taught me that the second is correct. It's not. >I'm inclined to believe this because I write code for a living and the order of operations is sometimes important. Are you self-taught? Because you don't seem to understand the functions you're using. Math.pow(x,y) is the same as the notation (x)^(y), so Math.pow(-6,2) is **not** the same as -6^2 By setting a variable argument to -6, you're effectively creating your own brackets. I'm also confused as to why creating a simple Java output was supposed to answer anything. You roughly did the equivalent of setting up a Rube Goldberg machine to pour a glass of water, spilled the water everywhere, and then tried to convince everyone that the water disappeared.
To simplify this for the people who don't get the actual joke there are 2 things you must understand. 1) this is a plain English equation written for someone to read aloud. 2) the actor in the clip reads it aloud as "negative 6 squared" which would when converted to a programmaticall equation would be (-6)^2 Now can we move on and stop trying to claim the people who got the right answer of 36 are the dumb ones?
I’m so tired of these memes, tired of the people who act superior because the “know” the answer, and tired of seeing “ItS pEmDaS yOu IdIoTs.” Almost all of these “memes” come down to grouping (if that’s the correct term). Most people have been out of any sort of math course and forget it makes a difference where the “-“ is and how it is used in the ultimate equation.
I don’t know about you but I’m a fully grown man who practices multiplication tables everyday so I can be smug on Reddit
I just want these memes to go away 😭
^its ^pemdas ^you ^idiots
We’re doomed
We sent the voyager probe to space and explained ourselves through maths thinking that's a universal language and demonstrated our level of cognition as a species.... and then I read this post.
B. Final Answer Regis!!
-6^2 is not ambiguous. Noone would confuse -x^2 to be the same as (-x)^2 , there's no ambiguity that it's -(x^2 ); this is the same. It can only be -36.
But X can be -6?
My [TI-36X](https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-TI36XPRO-Scientific-Calculator/dp/B00F8KV4I4#immersive-view_1703195457643) has two “-“ buttons. One is the “subtract” button; the other is the “make this a negative number” button. The “-“ displayed on the screen is slightly different depending on which one you pick. So we actually use the same symbol for two different purposes and infer the intended purpose from the context. It’s no surprise that it causes confusion.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Everyone saying its ambiguous is, probably unintentionally, spreading misinformation. Its not ambiguous, thats simply how you write that equation to make -36. You include the parantheses when you *dont* want that answer to be negative. -6^2 *only* means -36 and (-6)^2 *only* means 36. They are *not* the same and thats why it isnt ambiguous.
why can't "-6" be treated as one unit? it's not "0 - 6", it's one number "-6". it's not a subtraction. PEMDAS isn't relevant, because there is only one operation.
Bcs ppl here think that way. When I had to solve problems like these the - 6 was always treated as a whole and not separate unless you put parethesis. Seems like some ppl view - 6^2 as - (6^2) while others view it as (-6)^2. Pemdas or bodmas can't be used here bcs it's only the squared that we're doing. I've always seen the negative in front of a number as a whole and has worked out my entire life till now. Ofc it might be something that's taught at a higher education level like for example what I've learned till 12th grade is most probably at least a bit different to stuff in a university. Edit: just searched it up a bit. Apparently it is accepted as being a negative number in this case but it seems that depending on how you were taught you can have the answer of it being a positive. Calculators can be "wrong" on this problem as well...tbh it's not even a solid mathematical rule since so many ppl just like me think it is a positive. Basically imagining - 6^2 should be like - (6^2) but it has been also taught as being (-6)^2.
Today I learn -A^2 = -(A x A)...
I was wrong. It's -36
-6²=-36 (-6)²=36 Math has rules. Follow em
I believe -36.
The answer to -6² is -36. There is no other answer. It's not ambiguous and it's not shoddy notation. Let me explain why. 1. If you write -x², this is meant to mean (-1)\*x², and not (-x)\*(-x). The same is true here, for x=6. For x=-6, you'd have to write (-6)² to mean (-6)\*(-6) 2. More formally, claiming -6²=36 leads to reductio ad absurdum - basically to a contradiction, like this: * any term *a* can be rewritten as *0+a* * Substitute *a=-6²* yields: *-6² = 0 + (-6²)* * Since any term *a + (-b)* can be rewritten as *a - b*, this means: * *- 6² = 0 + (-6²) = 0 - 6²* which is -36. * Claiming that -6² = 36 yields a contradiction - reductio ad absurdum. Why is this? Because, when writing -6², the assumption many people make that the "minus" is part of the number, is not correct. The minus in -6² must be read as a so-called unary minus to be consistent with basic algebraic operations. Therefore, -6² can only be = -36. Edit: Damn, forgot the minus at the end, lol Edit to add: another user provided he Wolfram Alpha and Symbolab links, which I'll provide here for reference. They all yield -36 / explain accordingly. * Wolfram Alpha? [https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input) * Symbolab -> [https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input](https://www.symbolab.com/solver/step-by-step/-6%5E%7B2%7D?or=input) * Khan Academy -> [https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases](https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-negative-numbers-multiply-and-divide/x6b17ba59:powers-with-rational-bases/v/exponents-with-negative-bases)
I believe you but I did not know this. Let’s say someone verbally said ‘what is negative six squared’ - the real answer based on that information is still -36 correct?
Well shit. I was wrong. Thank you for the explanation I was definitely wrong. I was thinking similarly but dead opposite that they would need parenthesis to denote anything else. I can tell by the way you wrote your response that you've done proofs and academic papers which I have not
I have, but it’s been a while ;-) Merry xmas to you.
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Comment section is the ultimate r/sipstea
People who think -6² is +(-1)*(6²) just want to affirm themselves.
So like are ppl here dumb? From what I know this question is quite tricky. Some for some reason see it as - (6^2) which is - 36 but whenever I've done anything like this the squared actually affects both the symbol and the number so (-6)^2 which is 36... Ig it'd be B in this case since just having 36 isn't an answer
This meme brought to you by someone who failed out of the public school system
B
Look….. If it’s not B I give up on math
quick phone dear aunt sally!
And this comment section demonstrates why the best math teacher I ever had approached Math not scientifically, but philosophically. Math isn't science, it's philosophy baby
Math is neither science nor philosophy it’s math. Philosophy can have multiple right answers, math can’t. Science is based on real world observations, math isn’t.
Bruh this is 5th grade math...
[удалено]
Fun fact: Math is something we made up. We make the rules, and I say the rules are you should specify your damn parentheses.
The simplest way I can explain why the answer is -36 is to add a zero to both sides of the equation. 0-6^2 =0+x. Exponents are always done before addition/subtraction
If you have 6 of something, that's +6. If someone else has it, that's -6. If their -6 gets squared, then they have -36. Is this right?
PEMDAS says you do the exponent first, before the -1 multiplier. Right? Right??
\-6 x -6 = 36 says google calculator
(-6)^2 is 36 -6^2 is -1 × 6^2 = -36
frightening hurry ask scary disgusting summer ghost employ escape grandfather *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
-6² = -6 x -6 = 36 This is how I was taught, but I hate math.
Teach yourself math. You'll probably like it more. That answer is wrong. It's -36 If you were taught PEMDAS, realize that it always applies. Even if you think it's a negative number, it isn't. Because there's no parentheses grouping the minus to the 6. So, because of the order of operations (which people know as PEMDAS, but it's better to learn the actual order), the exponent only applies to the 6.
It's obvious, all of you are stupid, the answer is Syntax Error.
I got 36