University:
California Institute of Technology
Course:
ACM 206 | Topics in Computational Mathematics
Academic year:

2020
Views:

152

Pages:

2
Author:

5CelestialChronicle

Absolute Value The notation used for absolute notation is a pair of lines called bars around the number: |5| You say: The absolute value of 5. Absolute value is the distance a number is from zero. -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 is 5 spaces away from 0. |5| = 5 -5 is 5 spaces away from 0. |-5| = 5 Distance is always positive. Therefore, absolute value is always positive. Find each absolute value. a) |9| = 9 b) |-3| = 3 c) |0| = 0 d) |-3/4| = 3/4 Opposites A number and its opposite are the same distance from zero in opposite directions. Opposites have the same absolute value. The opposite of 4 is -4. number line with 4 and 4 marked The opposite of -2 is 2. number line with 2 and 2 marked The opposite of 0 is 0. number line with 0 marked Notation: The negative symbol also means opposite. (5) = -5 The opposite of 5 is negative 5. (-5) = 5 The opposite of negative 5 is positive 5.