Absolute Value

Absolute Value means ...

... only how far a number is from zero:

absolute value 6 either way on number line

"6" is 6 away from zero,
and "−6" is also 6 away from zero.

So the absolute value of 6 is 6,
and the absolute value of −6 is also 6

More Examples:

No Negatives!

So in practice "absolute value" means to remove any negative sign in front of a number, and to think of all numbers as positive (or zero).

Absolute Value Symbol

To show that we want the absolute value of something, we put "|" marks either side (they are called "bars" and are found on the right side of a keyboard), like these examples:

|−5| = 5 |7| = 7

Sometimes absolute value is also written as "abs()", so abs(−1) = 1 is the same as |−1| = 1

Try It Yourself

images/absolute.js

Subtract Either Way Around

And it doesn't matter which way around we do a subtraction, the absolute value will always be the same:

|8−3| = 5(because 8−3 = 5)|3−8| = 5(3−8 = −5, and |−5| = 5)