You can put this solution on YOUR website! Hi,
So the question says to evaluate
Well, that's a determinant of a matrix, but since you used the term 'absolute sign' I'm guessing you don't know what a determinant is.
I can't really teach that here from scratch. I suggest you ask your teacher/lecturer to go over the material again.
Anyway, this is quite an easy determinant. By evaluating down the first column you can reduce it to
Which is 2*0-1*3=-3. (People just generally remember that a 2x2 determinant is ad-bc)
Hope the answer helps, but you really need to go ask someone if you don't know what a determinant is.
Kev