Whats right?

-1^4 = -1

-1×-1×-1×-1 = 1

-1×-1×-1×-1+1×1 = 2

Remember order of operations: Exponents come before multiplication. Given that -x is really -1(x), (or in this case -1 x 1) you could (and should) rewrite the problem to -(1^4).

Therefore:

-1^4

=-(1^4)

=-1

 Hope this helps! 

Hi mvpersie11,

Sometimes this idea can be quite confusing.

-1^4 technically means -(1)^4, which would equal -1. According to order of operations, we do the exponent first, and then make it negative. 

For the answer to be positive, we would have to write (-1)^4, which would equal -1 x -1 x -1 x -1, which equals 1.