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Today's Goal: Students will understand what absolute value is and how to compare absolute values.
What is absolute value: Absolute value is a number's distance from zero.
Absolute value is show with two lines a an integer between them.
|5| means the absolute value of 5. How far is 5 from zero on the number line? 5 units, |5| = 5.
|-7| means the absolute value of 7.
How far is -7 from zero on the number line?
7 units, so |-7| = 7.
Absolute value is always a positive number as it simply means how far from zero a number in on the number line.
If there is a negative sign outside the absolute value sign, then the value of the absolute is a negative number.
For example, |-2| has an absolute value of 2, a positive 2.
Practice Sites
Number Balls - Click the numbered balls, having absolute values, so they are in order from least to greatest
Absolute Value & Opposites - Answer questions before time expires.
XP Math - Which is greatest?
Absolute Value Quiz - Take a quiz.
If you have -|-2| the -2 inside has an absolute value of positive two, but because there is a negative sign outside, the value of this expression is -2.
Opposites are numbers that are the same distance from zero. So, -2 and 2 are opposites as they are both 2 spaces away from zero. The opposite of -8 is 8.
Absolute Values & Operations
To evaluate expressin continuing absolute values:
1. Write the whole expression
2. Rewrite the expression writing the values of the absolute values
3. Evaluate the expression using order of operations if necessary.
For Example:
1. |-3| + 2 {Write the expression}
2. 3 + 2 {Rewrite the expression using the values of the absolute values}
3. 3 + 2 = 5 {Evaluate using order of operations}
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