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Absolute Value & the Distance Between Points on the Number Line



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In this lesson, we will think about the concept of absolute value. Recall that the absolute value of a number a, shown as |a| is the distance between the number (a) and zero on the number line. From this definition, we can see that if we want the absolute value of a positive number, the answer is just the number. If we want the absolute value of a negative number, we just take the opposite of the number or make it positive. For zero, the absolute value is zero since the number is zero units away from itself on the number line. Additionally, we will look at some very simple absolute value equations and consider these problems using a number line. We will write and graph our solution using interval notation that was covered in the last lesson. Lastly, we will learn how to find the distance between any two points on a number line, let’s say point a and point b. We will show that this can be done as |a - b| or |b - a|, which will give us the same result.
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