Why is absolute value important ?

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Answer 1

Like a lot of concepts in math, it's totally theoretical and you'll never really have to use it for anything. Basically it's just to show that distance (such as on a number line) can never be negative. But you need to know it because it's used in a lot of equations in math from the point you learn it on. 20 years from now, you'll probably forget half of the stuff you learned in math class unless you're in a field of work that's very heavy in mathematics. But until you're done with school you'll need to remember as everything in math builds on previously learned concepts

Answer 2

An absolute value is used when you only care about the magnitude of a number and you don't care whether the number is positive or negative.  

For example there are times in statistics when your are dealing trying to find out if the average of a sample matches a particular bell curve.  It may the the that sample average is to greater or less than the average of the bell curve.  When you do your statistical analysis, you don't care which it is, just that the average is outside of a predetermined standard limit (I've tried to simplify this explanation).  You would use an absolute value as part of some rather complicated calculations.

Answer 3

theory that you can't actually have a negative something. it's impossible to have -6 peaches b/c once you hit zero you can't have any less.  

Answer 4

UHhhhhh hmmmmm zzzzzz. good question