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Given |x - 4| = 6, explain why when solving this you have to set up two equations. Please also solve the problem.

User Tpee
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1 Answer

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Answer: x=10 or -2

Explanation:

Absolute value is the distance from 0 and a distance can't be negative, so the absolute value of any number is positive. Thus, inside the absolute value

(|a +b|) of a positive result can either be positive or negative. For this reason, we need to set up two equations, one for positive solution, one for negative solution.

  • By means, if | a + b | =3, a+b can be either negative or positive, but the answer will always be positive 3.

|x-4|=6

x-4=6 or x-4=-6

x=10 x=-2

User Marika Blum
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