Final answer:
The absolute value of a number is its distance from zero, regardless of direction. The changes in weight, when expressed as absolute values, are |5|, |14|, |20|, and |11|, corresponding to the gains and losses experienced by Joe, John, Jordan, and Josh, respectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
To understand how to represent the weight changes as absolute values, we need to know what an absolute value is. The absolute value of a number is the distance of that number from zero on the number line, without considering the direction. In other words, the absolute value is always non-negative, whether the original number was positive or negative.
Jordan and Josh lost weight, which could be represented with negative values naturally, but since we're looking for the absolute value, the signs do not matter. Joe gained weight, which would be a positive value, but again, for absolute value, we only care about the magnitude, not the sign.
So, when we convert these weight changes into absolute values, we get:
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- Joe gained: |5| = 5
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- John gained: |14| = 14
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- Jordan lost: |-20| = 20
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- Josh lost: |-11| = 11
Therefore, the correct way to write these weight changes as absolute values would be option c) |5|, |14|, |20|, |11|.