Well, it my experience I would say that it mean absolute value bars, which basically means distance from zero. So if I were to find the root of 9 (√9) it would become |3|, which is ± 3 (3 and (-3)).
There's a good definition in the link below.
Here is a possible definition: |x| = √a2
Further reading: If you were to graph the function y=|x| than it will take on a shape of a V, the domain being {xeR} and the range being {y≥ 0, yeR}. If you were to have the point (1,1) on the graph you should have the corresponding point (-1,1) on the other side (since the root of x2 (√x2) is |x| which can be broken down into ± x (x and -x) thus the points being (-x,y) and (x,y)). the main points to use are (1,1), (0,0) and (-1,1) when sketching transformations. furthermore the inverse is not a function (since there be 2 y points for a given x point, (the graph shape being a < )) and you will need to restrict its domain to make it a function.
Now if you were talking about vectors the bars usually will mean something else, usually being involved in dot and cross product (refer to possible definition). Ex: |x| = √a2 + b2 + c2 , where x is a vector in 3 dimensions.
Including when putting "the bars" around a vector it identifies it as the magnitude only (a vector is magnitude and direction, hence no direction).
Also your high school teacher may do to show that the lines are parallel (but it shouldn't be around a variable).
Original answer: Absolute value
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In algebra, its to move the pieces of the equation around so that the variable is isolated to only one side of the sign
No, he did not. Algebra was around long before he was.
There were no Muslims around 4000 years ago when the Babylonians began using what we now call algebra.
1,192 yrs. from 820 to 2012.
Sir. Edward Algebrastiene II, he was born in England around 1414 but was raised in Germany where he studied the behavior of numbers in the universities. Al-Khwarizmi is considered the "Father of Algebra"