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Which 2 of the following expressions represent the distance between −4/3 and 1/3?

a) 1/3 - (-4/3)
b) -4/3 - 1/3
c) 4/3 - 1/3
d) -1/3 - (-4/3)

User Igo
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The two expressions representing the positive distance between −4/3 and 1/3 are 1/3 - (−4/3) from option a) and −1/3 - (−4/3) from option d), both simplifying to positive fractions.

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance between two points on a number line is the absolute value of the difference between the coordinates of these points. To calculate the distance between −4/3 and 1/3, we need to find the positive difference between the two.

Option a) 1/3 - (−4/3) calculates this difference and simplifies to 1/3 + 4/3, which equals 5/3. This is the positive distance, as required.

Option d) −1/3 - (−4/3) also calculates the difference between the two numbers and simplifies to −1/3 + 4/3, which equals 3/3 or 1, another positive distance.

Options b) and c) both result in negative and lesser values respectively, which do not represent the actual distance between the points when considering distance as a positive value.

User Stephen Watkins
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