Answer 2) 5(-4) is the correct answer.
For this problem, the tutorial required that you demonstrate your knowledge of positive and negative numbers and exponents.
A strong understanding of the rules assocaited with positive and negative numbers would have led you to Answer 2. Here a postive number (5) multiplied by a negative number (-4) always yields a negatives number, in this problem that number is -20. You could then move on to the next problem without spending much time.
If you are like many students, you began at Answer 1, calculated it and then moved to the next option. You would have found that Answer 1, -52, which is the same as (-5)(-5) yields a positive number (25). Definitely not a negative.
You would have then moves on to Answer 2, calculated as described above and had your answer. Having your answer, you would have no further need to continue on to Answer options 3 and 4. Move on and save your time for more difficult problems.
If the math was not working for you, there is a way to improve what M3 refers to as guess-ability. Answer 4 had no negatives on either the base number or the exponent. This indicates that this number could not possibly be negative. Eliminating this imporves your guess-ability from 1 out of 4 (25%) to 1 out of 3 (33%).
