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You can put this solution on YOUR website!
\n" ); document.write( "The response from the other tutor shows a standard formal algebraic solution.
\n" ); document.write( "Here is another way of solving absolute value equations that is often easier than the formal algebraic solution.
\n" ); document.write( "The expression
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\n" ); document.write( "can be interpreted as meaning that the difference between x and a is less than b.
\n" ); document.write( "In this problem....
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\n" ); document.write( "This says that the difference between x and -1 is less than 4, where x is an integer. In other words, if we look at a number line, x can be any integer whose distance from -1 is less than 4.
\n" ); document.write( "3 units to the right of -1 is -1+3=2; 3 units to the left of -1 is -1-3=-4. So x can be any integer from -4 to +2 inclusive; that is 7 integers.
\n" ); document.write( "Or, the previous paragraph more simply: the integers that satisfy the inequality are -1, plus 3 integers either side of -1, for a total of 1+3+3 = 7.
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