Question

Please I need help don't understand this problem.

Trina and Jessie went on vacation. Trina went scuba diving and reached an elevation of -85.5 meters, which is below sea level. Jessie went hang gliding and reached 87.9 meters which is above sea level.
Who is closer to the surface of the ocean? Explain

Answer 1

we need to find the absolute value of these numbers to see which one is closer to the surface of the ocean. The surface of the ocean is at 0.

Trina : | - 85.5 | = 85.5 meters from 0
Jessie : | 87.9 | = 87.9 meters from 0

so Trina is closer to 0 then Jessie is. <==
The reason we took the absolute value of these numbers, is because that is what the absolute value does...it tells us how many spaces away from 0 it is.