On Sun, 10 May 2009 16:19:22 +0000, Jim Higgins
wrote:

I disagree. Negation is not a subtraction operation; it's a
multiplication operation.

It varies by position. At the front of a string of arithmetic
operations, it's multiplication. In between the terms of an equation
or values, it's subtraction. This article covers some of the problem:
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=109516
Humans can usually make the distinction by context. Too bad computers
can't do the same.

Either way Microsoft Excel implements it incorrectly because in either
case exponentiation has a higher precedence in the science of
mathematics.

Agreed.

Agreed that it's too late to go back now, but bugs perpetuate because
they aren't fixed promptly when encountered. This issue isn't new and
it was fixable when first encountered in the very first release of
Excel.

I can sorta tolerate perpetuating mistakes. However, Microsoft's
attitude toward precedence operations reeks of damage control and of
trying to create a secondary standard by sheer number of users. The
first step to fixing the problem should have been to admit that they
were wrong. That never seems to have happened.

--
Jeff Liebermann
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