Web-based Student Activities

Absolute Value



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Students should be able to:

  • determine the absolute value of an integer by finding its distance from zero.





What is absolute value?

When we find the absolute value of an integer we are finding its distance from zero. To do this, simply count from the number to zero. So the absolute value, or distance from zero, of +2 is 2. What is the absolute value of -2? If you count from -2 to 0 you'll find that it is also 2 units away from 0. So the absolute value of -2 is also 2.


We use the symbol | | to show absolute value. So to show that we are finding the absolute of -2, we write |-2|. For +2, we write |+2|.


Look at the number line below. Answer the question and then click the button to see if you were correct.

rays and vertex

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Absolute value is the distance an integer is from zero.

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Absolute Value of +4

w acute angles

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Absolute value is the distance an integer is from zero.

Use this mini-movie on your interactive whiteboard




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