minus: operator and sign (PR#7908)

[...]
But it is always safe (and often prudent) to force precedence
with parentheses -- at least you yourself are then absolutely
sure of exactly what is going to happen, which is the really
important thing (and this is Rule 2, which takes precedence
over Rule 1).

So if you want to force "-2^2" and similar to be the square
of "-2" then do "(-2)^2". And it adds clarity to things like

  2 - - - 2^2

PS: And will also avoid typopathological events such as

  > x<-y

when what you really meant was

  > x< -y
  [1] FALSE

Ted.


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Date: 31-May-05                                       Time: 11:50:07
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