which of the following expressions represents the distance between -12 and -5 on a number line?

Question

which of the following expressions represents the distance between -12 and -5 on a number line?

Answer 1

|-12| - |-5| = x ==> We start at -12 on the number line. Since we cannot have a negative distance, we must take the absolute value of that number to properly represent the distance from 0 to -12. We only want to know the distance from -5 to -12, so we must get rid of the distance from 0 to -5 by subtracting it from the distance from -12. Again, we must take the absolute value of -5 to represent the distance from 0 to -5.

|-12| - |-5| = 12 - 5 = 7 ==> The absolute value of -12 and -5 are 12 and 5 respectively. Therefore, 12 minus 5 equals 7. The distance from -5 to -12 on the number line is 7.