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Solving Absolute

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72 views6 pages

Solving Absolute

j,ty,

Uploaded by

Ng Yievia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solving Absolute-Value Equations (page 1 of 2)

When you take the absolute value of a number, you always end up with a positive number (or
zero). Whether the input was positive or negative (or zero), the output is always positive (or
zero). For instance, | 3 | = 3, and | 3 | = 3 also.
This property that both the positive and the negative become positive makes solving
absolute-value equations a little tricky. But once you learn the "trick", they're not so bad. Let's
start with something simple:

Solve | x

|=3

I've pretty much already solved this: | 3 | = 3 and | 3 | = 3, so x must be 3 or 3. But


how are you supposed to solve this if you don't already know the answer? You use
the positive / negative property of the absolute value to split the equation into two
cases, and you use the fact that the minus sign " " indicates "the opposite sign", not
necessarily a negative number.
For example, if you have x = 6, then
" x " indicates "the opposite of x", or, in this case, (6) = +6, a positive number.
The minus sign in " x " just indicates that you are changing the sign on x. It does not
indicate a negative number. This distinction can be crucial.
Whatever the value of x might be, taking the absolute value of x makes it positive.
Since x might have been positive and might have been negative, you have to
acknowledge this fact when you take the absolute-value bars off, and you do this by
splitting the equation into two cases. If the value of x was positive to start with, then
you can bring that value out of the absolue-value bars without changing its sign,
giving you x = 3. But x might also have been negative, in which case you would have
to change the sign on x for the absolute value to come out positive, so you also have
x = 3, which solves as x = 3.
Then the solution is x

= 3, 3.

Absolute-value equations always work this way: to be able to remove the absolute-value bars,
you have to isolate the absolute value onto one side, and then split the equation into the two
possible cases.

You can, by the way, verify the above solution graphically. When you attempt to solve the
absoluve-value equation | x | = 3, you are, in effect, setting two line equations equal to each
other and finding where they cross. In this case, as you can see below:

...the two lines, y1 = | x | and y2 = 3, cross at two x-values: x = 3 and x


solution can be verified by plugging it back into the original exercise:
If x =

3, then | x | = | 3 | = 3, and if x = 3, then | x | = | 3 | = 3.

Let's look at some more exercises:

= 3. Of course, any

Solve | x

Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved

+2|=7

To clear the absolute-value bars, I must split the equation into its two possible two
cases, one case for each sign:

(x + 2) = 7 or (x + 2) = 7
x + 2 = 7 or x 2 = 7
x = 5 or 9 = x
Then the solution is x

= 9, 5.

To confirm this graphically, you would look for the intersections of

Solve | 2x

3|4=3

y1 = | x + 2 | and y2 = 7:

First, I'll isolate the absolute-value part; that is, I'll get the absolute-value expression
by itself on one side of the "equals" sign, with everything else on the other side:

| 2x 3 | 4 = 3
| 2x 3 | = 7
Now I'll clear the absolute-value bars by splitting the equation into its two cases, one
for each sign:

(2x 3) = 7 or (2x 3) = 7
2x 3 = 7 or 2x + 3 = 7
2x = 10 or 2x = 4
x = 5 or x = 2
So the solution is x

= 2, 5.

To confirm this graphically, look for the intersections of

Solve | x2

y1 = | 2x 3 | 4 and y2 = 3:

4x 5 | = 7

First, I'll clear the absolute-value bars by splitting the equation into its two cases:

( x2 4x 5 ) = 7 or (x2 4x 5) = 7
Solving the first case, I get:

x2 4x 5 = 7
x2 4x 12 = 0
(x 6)(x + 2) = 0
x = 6, x = 2
Solving the second case, I get:

x2 + 4x + 5 = 7
x2 + 4x 2 = 0
0 = x2 4x + 2

Applying the Quadratic Formula to the above, I get:

Then my solution is:

To confirm this graphically, you can look for the intersections of

y1 = | x2 4x 5 | and y2 = 7:

What if your equation has two absolute values? Then you will need to be more explicit about
the cases you are checking, but afterwards, the general approach will be the same.

Solve | x

3 | = | 3x + 2 | 1

First I need to find the break-points for each of these absolute values. Where do the
arguments (the expressions between the bars) of these absolute values switch from
being positive inside the bars to being negative? I'll look at each absolute value
separately.

| x 3 | > 0 for x > 3


| 3x + 2 | > 0 for x > 2/3
How did I arrive at these conclusions? I know that x 3 = 0 at x = 3, and that the line y = x
3 has a positive slope and thus an increasing line. So x 3 = 0 at x = 3, and x 3 must be
positive after x = 3. Also, I know that 3x + 2 = 0 at x = 2/3, and that the line y = 3x + 2 has
a positive slope and thus an increasing line. So 3x + 2 = 0 at x = 2/3, and 3x + 2 must be
positive after x = 2/3.
These points, x = 2/3 and x = 3, are where the absolute-value expressions equal zero.
Since these expressions must be negative or positive for other x-values, then these points

divide the number line into intervals (before x = 2/3, between x


x = 3), each of which should be considered separately.

= 2/3 and x = 3, and after

(infinity,
2/3),
(2/3, 3), and (3, infinity). On the first interval, both absolute-value expressions will
The zeroes of the two absolute-value expressions give me three intervals:

have negative values, so I'll need to change the signs on both of them when I take the
bars off.

| x 3 | = | 3x + 2 | 1
(x 3) = (3x + 2) 1
x + 3 = 3x 2 1
2x = 6
x = 3 Copyright Elizabeth Stapel 2002-2011 All Rights Reserved
This tells me that the solution to the original equation, on the interval (infinity,
2/3),
is x = 3. Since x = 3 is contained within this interval, this solution is valid.
On the second interval (where x is between 2/3 and 3), the absolute value on the
left-hand side of the equation, | x 3 |, has a negative argument; I'll have to change
its sign when I take off the bars. But the absolute value on the right-hand side of the
equation, | 3x + 2 |, has a positive argument, so I can just take the bars off.

| x 3 | = | 3x + 2 | 1
(x 3) = 3x + 2 1
x + 3 = 3x + 1
2 = 4x
1/2 = x
This tells me that the solution to the original equation, on the interval (2/3,
1/2. Since 1/2 is between 2/3 and 3, this solution is valid.

3), is x =

On the third interval (where x is 3 or more), both absolute values have positive
arguments, so I can just take the bars off.

| x 3 | = | 3x + 2 | 1
x 3 = 3x + 2 1
4 = 2x
2 = x
However, on this interval, x was already fixed as being greater than 3; the solution
then cannot be "x = 2", since 2 is actually less than 3. So "x = 2" is not actually a
valid solution!
Then the answer is:

x = 3 or x = 1/2
To confirm this graphically, look for the intersections of

y1 = | x 3 | and y2 = | 3x + 2 | 1:

You don't often need to take different intervals into consideration but sometimes you do. So
make sure you understand the last exercise above.

You can use the Mathway widget below to practice solving an absolute-value equation. Try
the entered exercise, or type in your own exercise. Then click "Answer" to compare your
answer to Mathway's. (Or skip the widget and return to the index.)

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