Mathematics Knowledge
Absolute Value
Yesterday I presented a question on absolute value.
What is the absolute value of 5?
In working as an ASVAB tutor, I explain the concept of absolute value to the students in my ASVAB prep course. Absolute value is a subtopic that could appear on the Mathematics Knowledge section of the ASVAB. Absolute value is the distance of a number from 0 on a real number line. The number 5 is 5 away from 0. Therefore, the absolute value of 5 is 5. To explain it simply, to find absolute value, remove any negative sign in front of a number. If the number is negative, its absolute value is positive. If the number is positive, its absolute value is positive. No matter what the starting number, the absolute value is positive. This only changes if the absolute value problem includes variables as in algebra. That is a topic for another day and is not as simple as the answer for today.
