Absolute Value and Distance

First we should start off with the definition of absolute value.

Absolute value:
If a in R then |a| = a if a>=0 or -a if a<0 where | a | is read as "the absolute value of a".

Here are some examples of what we are talking about.

We often think of | a | as the distance a is away from 0. Note that | -a | = | a |. When we have two real numbers a and b, the distance between them is | a - b | = | b - a |. Examples.

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