What is the difference between -2^4 and (-2)^4

I know the answer but how do you explain it?

What is the equation of a parabola y(x) that has a vertex at point (− 1/3 , 0.3) and passes through point (− 2/15 , − 1/2 ).

Monica build a remote control toy airplane for science project to test the plane she launched it from the top of a building the plane travel a horizontal distance of 50 feet before landing on the ground a quadratic function which models the height of the plane in feet relative to the ground at a horizontal distance of x feet from the building is shown

The larger of two number is 4 less than twice the smaller number. the sum is 41. find the numbers