Negative five squared is written with the sign inside the brackets, as (-5) * (-5). What is the value of (-5) * (-5) + 4?

Explication

The brackets carry the minus sign into both copies of the factor, so their product is twenty-five above zero, and adding four gives twenty-nine. Holding the minus sign outside the multiplication produces twenty-five below zero and turns the sum into a much smaller value, which is precisely the reading the brackets are there to rule out.