Asked by John

|-6|

|2-4|

|1/2-3/4|

What do the vertical signify? Thanks.
Answered by bobpursley
absolute value.
Answered by Dancer
absolute value
Answered by John
So, they don't really mean anything?

So |1/2-3/4| = 1/2-3/4

Answered by DrBob222
Yes, they do mean something. For example,
1/2 - 3/4 = -1/4
|1/2-3/4| = 1/4
Answered by John
How come the answers are different? Please explain, whats its function in helping to solve the equation.

Thanks.
Answered by DrBob222
The secret word here was in the two posts by others (not mine). Look up the word "absolute value" and see what it means.
Here is a really good site that explains this and many other math problems.
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/absolute.htm
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