Absolute Value

<a href="https://www.prepswift.com/quizzes/quiz/prepswift-absolute-value" target="_blank">Absolute Value Exercise</a> Note: about 32 seconds into the video, -1 is "output" as -1. It should be 1; that is, |-1| = 1. There are two ways to think about Absolute Value, the casual way and the "correct" way. The casual way is easier to understand. <ul> <li>Casual Definition: The absolute value is a machine that "makes whatever is inside it positive."</li> </ul> $$|-5|=5$$ $$|-3-5|=|-8|=8$$ <ul> <li>The "Correct" Definition: The absolute value of something is its "distance from $0$" on the number line. For example...</li> </ul> $$|n|=5$$ This is basically asking us what values of $n$ are a distance of $5$ away from $0$? Well that would be $5$ and $-5$ of course. That's why $n$ takes on two values here. Don't forget that the absolue value of something can equal zero but never a negative value.