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Absolute Value Videos 12 videos

Introduction to Absolute Value
11925 Views

Check out this video to learn more about absolute value and how it has no patience for negative signs.

Absolute Value Problem
7697 Views

We love doing absolute value problems because it means spending time with our good buddy, the number line. But don’t think we’ve forgotten abou...

Graphing Absolute Value Equations
881 Views

The easy way to remember the look of an absolute value graph is that they are always a V-shape... and “V” stands for value. Or for verisimilitu...

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Introduction to Absolute Value 11925 Views


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Description:

Check out this video to learn more about absolute value and how it has no patience for negative signs.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:01

Absolute Value a la Shmoop A healthy sense of optimism can have a strong

00:05

effect on one’s psyche. No, no – psyche.

00:09

For example, you might hear an optimistic person say, “I just got a terrible haircut…

00:15

but my new faux-hawk will make me stand out from the crowd!”

00:18

Or, “an earthquake just swallowed my home… but I get to be on the news!”

00:24

Or, “an asteroid the size of the sun is hurtling toward the Earth and we have only

00:28

a few minutes left to live… but at least we’re all going together!”

00:32

See how much nicer things seem when we put a positive spin on it?

00:35

Then you’re just going to love Absolute Value.

00:38

All this guy does is take negatives and turn them into positives. Of course, he also takes

00:42

positives and keeps them positive. We’re talking a whole lot of positivity.

00:47

Absolute Value determines how many spots away a number is from zero on the Number Line.

00:54

You could never be a negative number of spots away from zero, which is why Absolute Value

00:58

is always so dang positive. You can tell you’re dealing with an Absolute

01:01

Value because you’ll see a number surrounded by bars on either side. It looks almost like

01:06

they’re in prison or, as Absolute Value would say, “on vacation.”

01:10

Take any number, put it through the Absolute Value machine, and you’ll get its true colors.

01:15

Say you want to find the Absolute Value of the number seven.

01:18

First, we put it in “prison” so we know we’re looking for the Absolute Value, and

01:22

not just looking at a run-of-the-mill seven. Then we can count the spaces between zero

01:27

and seven… which, surprise surprise, is seven.

01:31

It will be the same story for every single positive number…

01:34

which makes our job easier. However, it’s a bit different when we have a negative number.

01:39

Suppose we want to find the Absolute Value of negative three. First we jail that sucker…

01:45

and then we locate it on the Number Line. We count three spaces in-between negative

01:48

three and zero, and so our Absolute Value is three.

01:54

But what if we have a number with more than one negative sign? Suppose it’s been hoarding

01:58

them since 1973 and has accumulated three hundred of them?

02:02

Doesn’t matter. No matter how many times you reflect the number three across zero…

02:07

It will always be exactly three spaces away from zero. Therefore, its Absolute Value will

02:12

always be three. Being so positive all the time can definitely

02:16

lift your mood, and keep you from being down in the dumps.

02:19

Absolute Value is about as upbeat as they come. Which can actually be really annoying

02:24

sometimes. If you tell anyone else we’ll deny it, but

02:28

boy, we hate that guy.

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