What is absolute value?

Absolute value of a variable, say x, is simply whatever you put in as a number for x say -3 it becomes positive.  It looks like this |x| .  So y = |x|  .  If x is -5 then y is 5.  If x is 10 then y is 10.   If x is -20 then y is 20.  You get the idea.  You simply make sure whatever is inside the brackets comes out positive. 


Here's one more.  y = | 5x - 10|  ...  Lets say x = -1.  What is y?

| 5(-1) - 10 | = | -5 - 10 | = |-15| = 15

Further discussion....

If you had a number line - 10 to 0 and 0 to 10 and you wanted to find the distance from from 0 to -3 the distance would not be -3 its just 3 or  | 0 - 3 |  = | - 3 | = 3

Algebra Questions

If you have a general algebra question this is where you will post your question in the comment section, and I or another visitor will help you out on it.  Fractions, decimals, percentages, binomial theorem, equation manipulation, etc.  If you do have a algebra word problem question please visit the algebra word problem blog here for help.

Welcome

This blog site will have information on the mathematical topic of Algebra.  This site will eventually discuss and help with all algebra topics including but not excluding graphing, algebra word problems, matrices, equation manipulations, fractions, percentages, statistics, etc.    I already have a site set up just for algebra word problems here you can check out.  Enjoy and come back soon for updates!