Hi Henry,
> (%i105) mylist:[100^100, 80^120,60^140,40^160,20^180];
Well, arithmetic expressions are computed via simplification.
So part of a solution for you might be to turn off simplification.
simp : false;
mylist:[100^100, 80^120,60^140,40^160,20^180];
sort (mylist);
=> [20^180, 40^160, 60^140, 80^120, 100^100]
Of course, turning off simplification is going to interfere with
pretty much everything else ... Here is a simple-minded solution.
display_sans_simp (x) ::= block ([simp : false], disp (ev (x)));
display_sans_simp (mylist);
=> [100^100, 80^120, 60^140, 40^160, 20^180] (printed, not returned)
HTH
Robert Dodier