Question

Joel rides his bicycle 250m towards north to meet his friend Jim. From there he bicycles 450m south along the same road. What integer will represent his final position from his house?

Answer 1

He is 200 meters south of his house.

Explanation:

Say north is positive and south is negative, but your answer will be the absolute value. He goes 250m North. He then goes 450m south which would translate into a problem as 250-450=|-200|=200. In simpler terms think of the road as a number line where north is positive and south is negative and your house is zero, you want the distance on the line from zero.