I need homework helpp!!?

Question

I need homework help!! I'm in jr.high and im doing algebra, but i have no idea what to do! here is one equation l7-2l-l9-8l. i remember my teacher saying that u have to count the units until u get to 0 on the number line. can someone plze give me a link to a good online tooter something? please hellppp!! :9

Answer 1

|5|-|1| = 4

Answer 2

You're doing what is called absolute value.    Does your textbook have anything about this?

The idea is that you're counting the distance between the numbers, not subtracting them.   What's the distance between 7 and 2?  5 spaces.    Yes, that's the same answer you'd get if you used subtraction, but that's because you haven't gotten to questions like |5-8|= ?   yet.   Don't be scared of that one either, just think of how many spaces there are between 5 and 8.    Since you can't have negative distance  (would it make sense to say that I live -24 miles from my mom? no)   then the answer is just 3 spaces.  

So the above poster is right, the question is 5-1, but my explanation hopefully makes it clearer why that's the case.