"Joe User" <joeu2004 wrote in message
...
"Tim Walters" wrote:
Is there a way to customize this in Excel so that
-2^2 = -4?

No, at least not in Excel 2003. Operator precedence is not configurable.


Shouldn't minus a squared number be a minus number?

Arguing about the correctness (or not) of operator precedence among
computer languages is like arguing about the correctness of the order of
adverbial/verb and adjective/noun among natural languages. At least one
computer language eschewed operator precedence rules altogether. Whose to
say that is wrong?


Surely, if Excel treats -2^2 differently from +0-2^2, one has a right to
claim that it obliges one to use DIFFERENT grammars in the same language.
After all, the two statements are arithmetically identical.



When you learn a natural language, you learn its peculiar grammar rules as
well as its vocabulary. Similarly with computer languages and
applications like Excel that have a significant language for expressing
things.

It is fair to say that Excel's precedence order between unary negation and
exponentiation is different from conventional mathematics. That is
neither "right" nor "wrong". Arguably, it would be "wrong" if Excel was
marketed as a language for expressing mathematics. But I do not believe
MS has never made that claim. (Obviously they shouldn't.)

As far as compatibility among spreadsheet products, Excel's
backward-compatibility models are Multiplan, Lotus and Visicalc, probably
in that order. Those were the market leaders of their day.

A human user must make appropriate adjustments when moving from one
product to another similar product. MS Word is very different from
WordPerfect. Likewise, Excel is different from Quattro Pro, albeit perhaps
not quite as dissimilar in some respects.

However, a QuattroPro-to-Excel converter should handle the differences
appropriately. In particular, the Quattro Pro formula -2^2 should be
converted to the Excel formula -(2^2) or -POWER(2,2). If it is not, that
is a defect in the converter, not a flaw in Excel operator precedence.


----- original message -----

"Tim Walters" wrote in message
...
Shouldn't minus a squared number be a minus number? In Excel -2^2 = 4. To
keep it negative I have to write -(2^2). It's very easy to make mistakes
because I also work with Quattro Pro which works differently. Is there a
way to customize this in Excel so that -2^2 = -4?

Thanks.