Question 157295
I understand what you are saying.

Math and physics textbooks are famous for having lots of typos.  

I have a closet full of math books and I cannot begin to number how many 
so-called right answers are located in the back of each book.

Anytime we square a number, the answer is POSITIVE.

I am not an engineer but consider myself good at math.

It makes perfect sense that (-8)^2 DOES NOT EQUAL -(8)^2.

Case 1:

(-8)^2 = 64

Case 2:

-(8)^2 = -(64) = -64

In case 2, we apply PEMDAS.  As you know, solving exponents come BEFORE multiplication in PEMDAS.

I would say it is a textbook TYPO.

Write back.