The statement PRINT -16 + 4
causes -12
to be printed on the monitor.
The arithmetic -16 + 4
means "add four to negative sixteen."
The - sign indicates a negative number.
The exponentiation operator is ^ (on the same key as 6). It means "to the power of".
3^2 means three to the power two, = 3 * 3 = 9 4^3 means four to the power three, = 4 * 4 * 4 = 64 2.5^2 means 2.5 to the power two, = 2.5 * 2.5 = 6.25 10^1.2 means ten to the power 1.2, = 15.8489
You may not have seen fractional powers before as in the last example. Don't worry. We won't use them. But if your need it in the future, QBasic can do it.
What (do you suppose) that the following program writes?
' Number of square inches in a square foot PRINT "Square inches = ", 12 ^ 2 END