Question 200608
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Shift backslash (the key above the Enter key on standard keyboards) makes the absolute value bar, sqrt(2) is the correct rendering of square root two, so you should have posted this as: |5-sqrt(2)|.


Remember the definition of absolute value:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ x \geq 0 \ \ \Rightarrow\ \ |x| = x]
*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ x\, < 0 \ \ \Rightarrow\ \ |x| = -x]


Since *[tex \Large 5 > \sqrt{2}], *[tex \Large 5 - \sqrt{2} > 0].  Therefore, by the definition of absolute value:


*[tex \LARGE \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ |5-\sqrt{2}| = 5-\sqrt{2}]



John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0]
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