Absolute Value, 6th grade math

Question

Jesse graphed a point to represent the absolute value of a number on a number line. If the original number is less the -10, describe all the possible values for the point Jesse graphed on the number line. Explain your thinking.

Answer 1

Hi Kari.

 

Absolute value is "the distance the number is from 0 on the number line". What this means, is that the absolute value of any negative number is the same number with a positive sign, and the absolute number of a positive number is the number as it is, unchanged. All absolute numbers are positive.

 

Ok, so if the original number is less than - 10, that means it could be -11, -12, -92, -33.45, and so on. All these numbers are less than -10, that is, they are to the left of -10 on a number line. So, just get rid of the negative signs.

 

-11, -12, -92, -33.45  become

11, 12, 92, 33.45

 

So what you know is that the point Jesse graphed has to be to the right of 10 on the number line. And it could be any number, as long as it's bigger than 10.

 

--Louise K.