-10^2 (OT)

[tom farrell]

Hi Chris et al...

>   Isn't -10^2 the same as -10*-10?

No.   (pretty pedantic, huh? sorry to seem rude)

>   It's basic Algebra.

Exactly.  -10^2 is the same as -X^2.

Surely we don't want to say that:
     -X^2 = -X * -X
and thus
     -X^2 + X^2 = 2 X^2
and surely, I hope, we don't want that.

This is an elegance question, not a practical one, since using () 
will avoid the issue, but seems important nonetheless (or "especially 
important because of that", I would say).  [...even further off-topic 
stuff deleted...]

tom