Question

A student said that since -9 is less than 4, then |-9| is less than |4|. Is the student correct? Explain why or why not.

Answer 1

No.

Explanation:

They are not correct because the "| |" signs mean absolute value. What ever is inside the signs must be positive. So -9 becomes 9 and 9 is greater than 4. So, the student is not correct.

Answer 2

No, that is not true. The absolute value is the distance a number is from zero. The distance of -9 to 0 is 9. 9 is not less than 4.