SOLUTION: What does the |x| around a number mean? Here is an example of a question that is asking me for a simple "greater than or less than" (equal is not a choice). Q: -2 ___ |-2|

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Question 96142: What does the |x| around a number mean? Here is an example of a question that is asking me for a simple "greater than or less than" (equal is not a choice).
Q: -2 ___ |-2|
A: a. > or b. <

Found 2 solutions by jim_thompson5910, stanbon:
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The vertical bars stand for absolute value

Whenever you take the absolute value any number, it will always result in a positive number.

So in other words, if we evaluate abs%2812%29 we will get 12. Likewise if we evaluate abs%28-12%29 we will get 12 also. If x%3C0 and we evaluate abs%28x%29 then x%3E0 as a result. So basically any negative number loses its sign and becomes positive.


So this property can be described through this inequality:
abs%28x%29%3E0

Since abs%28-2%29=2 our problem becomes:

-2______2 <---------Notice I replaced abs%28-2%29 with 2

Now we can see that -2 is less than 2, so our answer is

-2%3C2


So the answer is B)

Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
What does the |x| around a number mean? Here is an example of a question that is asking me for a simple "greater than or less than" (equal is not a choice).
Q: -2 ___ |-2|
A: a. > or b. <
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Strictly speaking |-------| means "distance"
Example:
|2 -3| means the distance between 2 and 3 which is 1
|-2| means |-2-0| which is the distance from -2 to 0 which is 2
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Your problem:
-2______|-2| is the same as saying
-2______ 2
The answer is <
-2 < |-2|
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Cheers,
Stan H.