Exponent Math Question

Helping a kid with a math question. Question is -4^2. I thought the answer was 16 but the answer key states -16. I had thought the only was the answer could be -16 is if the question was specifically stated as -(4^2) or maybe -(4)^2?
Thoughts?

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the key is wrong, square roots of negatives are called imaginary numbers

Question isn't dealing with square ROOTS. Just dealing with a square.

The point is that (-4)^2/2 = -4

-4^2 = -16 then
-16^.5 = 4i, which is not -4

Order of operations
Exponentiation goes before negation.

[math](-4)^{2} = 16[/math]
[math]-(4)^{2} = -16[/math]

this
[math]-4^2=-(4^2)=-16[/math]
[math](-4)^2=16[/math]

(-4)^2/2 = 8
-4^2 = -16
(-4)^2 = 16
-16^.5 = -4
(-16)^.5 = 4i

You seriously need to learn math.

While I haven't done this kind of math in 20 years, I thought I remembered learning that -4^2 would be written as (-4)^2 as opposed to -(4)^2.
Anybody have any reputable sources to confirm what this notation should be written as?

Think of it like this (-4)^2=(-4)(-4) and -4^2=-(4*4)