SOLUTION: Our teacher asked us to find an example of why this expression is false, the absolute value of a over b is equal to a over b. Please help me!

Algebra ->  Absolute-value -> SOLUTION: Our teacher asked us to find an example of why this expression is false, the absolute value of a over b is equal to a over b. Please help me!      Log On


   

Question 159841: Our teacher asked us to find an example of why this expression is false, the absolute value of a over b is equal to a over b. Please help me!
Answer by Fombitz(32388) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let a = -5 and b=1.
Then
abs%28a%2Fb%29=abs%28-5%2F1%29=abs%28-5%29=5
while
ab=%28-5%29%281%29=-5
Clearly in this case
abs%28a%2Fb%29 does not equal a%2Fb
.
.
.
.
The reason is that the absolute value function has two values,
abs%28a%2Fb%29=a%2Fb when a%2Fb%3E=0
abs%28a%2Fb%29=-a%2Fb when a%2Fb%3C0