This is the kind of shower thought I have. I am envious of those that have real shower thoughts

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[–] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 child)

yup:

(-27)^2/3 = ((-27) ^ 2) / 3

-27^2/3 = (-(27 ^ 2)) / 3

The reason is that you almost always want the negation to happen after the exponentiation, because it otherwise wouldn't have any effect (at least when the exponent is even).

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