[chrismorgan]

Very well then; let us rather write them with proper superscripts (and I’ll use THIN SPACE as a thousands and prettiness separator too because I can):

2 ⁷⁷ ²³² ⁹¹⁷ − 1

not

2 ⁷⁷ ²³² ⁹¹⁷ ⁻ ¹

There, no more ambiguity.

(Now I’m waiting for someone to jump on me to correct anything subtle.)

[Ah, I see, the parentheses were indeed a red herring. Ah well; let the superscripts remain.]