What is absolute value?

Answer 1

Absolute Value is the distance the number is from zero on the number line. It is always a positive value.

Ex. |-74| = 74

Ex. AV -6 = |-6| = 6

Ex. (a=2) AV a2 - 3a = |a2 - 3a| = |22 - 2*3| = |4 - 6| = |-2| = 2

It can also be termed as the square root of the sum of the square of the real numbers in a complex number.

Absolute value is the distance from zero. so: |3| = 3 and |-3| = 3 also because they are both three spaces away from zero.
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The absolute value is the the magnitude of a number, ignoring sign (or in the case of complex numbers, the real/imaginary parts as well).

For real numbers, it can be said that the absolute value is the distance of the number away from zero. On a number line: .....|.....|.....|.....

-4 0 4

The absolute value of both 4 and -4 (|4| and |-4|) are 4, because they are 4 units away from zero.

In the complex plane, the absolute value is typically called its magnitude. Then the magnitude of a number is its distance on the Re-Im plane from the orgin (absolute zero). So a number 3+4i is three units right on the Real (x) axis, and 4 units up on the Imaginary (y) axis. Forming a right triangle, with sides 3, and 4, the hypotenuse would be the line from this point to the origin. Using the pythagorean theorem, the distance of this point to the origin is √(32+42) = 5.

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Answer 2

In a technical sense, an absolute value is the actual magnitude of a numerical value or measurement, irrespective of its relation to other values.