What is minus 1 times x squared?

Answer 1

The answer is -x2.

A fuller explanation is as follows:

Where letter X is an unknown value, -1 times Xsquared ( -1 x X2 )is just a general statement about X and would be more properly written as -X2.

If we substitute say 2 as the value of X then -X2 = -2 x -2,

now both (2 x 2) and (-2 x -2) = 4

thus both -1 x X2 or -X2 = 4

From the above you can see that what "minus 1 times x squared" is equal to depends upon the value of the letter x or X as I have written it to avoid confusion with the "times" sign usually written as x.