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24.1 Absolute Value PDF

The absolute value of a number represents the distance of that number from zero on the number line. It turns both positive and negative numbers into positive numbers of the same distance from zero. The absolute value of an expression must first evaluate the expression, then take the absolute value of the resulting number.

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313 views4 pages

24.1 Absolute Value PDF

The absolute value of a number represents the distance of that number from zero on the number line. It turns both positive and negative numbers into positive numbers of the same distance from zero. The absolute value of an expression must first evaluate the expression, then take the absolute value of the resulting number.

Uploaded by

agasa sangma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Absolute value

The idea of absolute value is really just the idea of “distance from 0.”
Going back to the idea of a number line,

we can say that 2 is a distance of two units away from 0, but also that −2,
the opposite of 2 (and on the other side of 0), is two units away from 0. So
both 2 and −2 are two units away from 0. The number 4 is four units away
from 0, and −5 is five units away from 0.

So notice that, if we translate both positive and negative numbers into just
their distance from 0, we get

Number Distance from 0


2 2
-2 2
4 4
-5 5

Interestingly, all these numbers, whether they started out as positive or


negative, become positive numbers when we think only about their
distance from 0.

In fact, this is exactly what the absolute value operation does for us. It
turns each number into its distance from the origin, essentially turning all

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positive and negative numbers into only positive numbers. (Also, it “turns”
0 into 0, because the number 0 is zero units away from itself.)

We indicate the absolute value of a number by enclosing it in a pair of


vertical bars (which we’ll call “absolute value bars”). Here’s an example of
what the absolute value operation looks like:

| − 3|

This means “take the absolute value of −3.” We already know that the
absolute value of −3 is 3, since −3 is a distance of three units away from 0.
Here are some more examples:

| − 1| → 1

|1| → 1

| − 6| → 6

|6| → 6

| − 100 | → 100

| 100 | → 100

We aren't limited to taking the absolute value of just a number. In fact, we


can take the absolute value of any mathematical expression (e.g., an
expression for addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, or an
expression that includes two or more of those operations), and we enclose
the entire expression in a pair of absolute value bars. While it’s true that
the absolute value bars make whatever’s inside them positive (unless the
value of the expression is 0, in which case it makes the absolute value 0),

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there’s one important thing we need to say. We MUST evaluate the
expression inside the absolute value bars before taking the absolute value.
As an example, consider

| − 3 − 4|

You might be tempted to think that the absolute value operation just takes
away the negative sign that goes with the 3, and you would probably get 1
as the answer:

| − 3 − 4|

|3 − 4|

| − 1|

But this is wrong, because you would have performed the absolute value
operation first, by taking away the first negative sign inside the absolute
value bars. What we need to do instead is evaluate the expression inside
the absolute value bars first, and THEN take the absolute value. This is
how we should solve it:

| − 3 − 4|

| − 7|

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Notice how we first dealt with the subtraction problem inside the absolute
value bars, by evaluating −3 − 4 as −7. Only then, once we had evaluated
that expression, did we take the absolute value.

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