An absolute value is positive value of any value. So the abs value of -28 is 28. The abs value of 67 is 67. Makes sense?
If it were |27-3| for example, treat the inside of a abs as parenthesis, so you must complete PEMDAS inside of it to reduce the equation to |24|, unless you wanted it to become |27| - |3|.
For functions, this becomes slightly different and more difficult, especially when adding a variable such as x. Look below for a sample equation.
|2x-3|=1
This equation will actually have (and most others) 2 solutions for x. To find these, you’ll need to multiply the inside of the abs by -1 for one equation, and leave it as it is for the other!
2x-3=1 -(2x-3)=1
Now you have to solve BOTH equations to get your correct x-value answers.
For the first listed equation:
2x=4
x=2
For the second listed equation:
-2x+3=1
-2x=-2
x=-1
So you get the x-values -1 and 2 which both make the parent function true!
