Negative numbers with exponents in RPN

[john gustaf stebbins]

Quote:Perhaps you did the pasting and squaring in textbook or algebraic mode? In those modes, -2 x^2 will produce the result -4 because the x^2 operation has higher precedence than the negative sign. One of the advantages of RPN is that there are no operator precedence rules.

Yes this is the mode I was working in. It means that when I copy a previous result, it gets edited by the default entry mode. The system should have invisible parenthesis or even visible ones when you copy so that the result is not messed with by the editor.