How do you simplify −102?

2 Answers
Lithia
Feb 16, 2017

−102=−100
it's helpful for the rest of your math life to view expressions in parentheses

Explanation:

note that −102 and (−10)2 give different results
−102=(−1)(10)(10)=−100
(−10)2=(−10)(−10)=100

think of −102 as (−1)(102)
and −102 is the same as −(10)2

it's helpful for the rest of your math life to view expressions in parentheses

−102=−100

MathFact-orials.blogspot.com
Feb 16, 2017

−100

Explanation:

This question is all about the order of operations: BEMDAS, or

  • B (brackets)
  • E (exponents)
  • M (multiplication)
  • D (division)
  • A (addition)
  • S (subtraction)

The term −102 has two operations:

  • multiplication between −1 and 10, and
  • the exponent which takes 10 to the second power

The E, or exponent, comes first:

−102=−1×102=−1×100=−100

If we our question as (−10)2, then we'd have the B, or term within the bracket go first, which would give us −10, which is then squared to get 100:

(−10)2=(−1×10)2=(−10)(−10)=100

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