Absolute
Value
Absolute value makes a negative
number positive.
Positive numbers and 0 are left unchanged. The absolute value
of x is
written |x|. We write |–6| = 6 and |8| = 8.
Formally,
the absolute value of a number is the distance between the
number and the origin. This is
a much more powerful definition than the "makes a negative number
positive" idea. It connects the notion of absolute value to the
absolute value
of a complex number and the magnitude
of a vector.
See
also
Absolute
value rules
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