document.write( "Question 130264This question is from textbook Algebra 2
\n" ); document.write( ": Why do you need absoulte values? \n" ); document.write( "

Algebra.Com's Answer #95138 by ilana(307) $\"\"$ $\"About$

You can put this solution on YOUR website!
One reason that comes to mind is for distances. Suppose you don't know if a is further away or b is further away. Then the distance between them might come out to be negative if you just do a-b or b-a, and that negative amount can mess things up. But no matter what, the absolute value of (a-b)= the absolute value of (b-a), which is the distance between them.
\n" ); document.write( "Another reason is because x^2 is always positive, so 2^2=4 and (-2)^2=4. But that means that if you know a^2=4 and you need to find what a is, you can't tell if it is 2 or -2, but you can tell that the absolute value of a is 2. If you have a more complicated problem, this thing (absolute value of a) that you know is 2 could be helpful. \n" ); document.write( "

\n" );