Question

A mountain's peak is 880 m above sea level while the valley is 139 m below sea level. what is the elevation drop between the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley?

Answer 1

Let

x--------->the top of the mountain above sea level

y--------> the bottom of the valley below sea level

z-------> the elevation drop between the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley

we know that

$z=\left|x\right|+\left|y\right|$

in this problem we have

$x=880\ m\\ y=-139\ m$

substitute in the formula above

$z=\left|880\right|+\left|-139\right|$

$z=880+139$

$z=1,019\ m$

therefore

the answer is

the elevation drop between the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley is $1,019\ m$

Answer 2

To find the elevation drop between a point above sea level and a point below sea level, you will need to add the absolute values (the distance from zero) to find how far apart they are.

|880| + |-139|=
880 + 139 = 1019 meters

The drop in elevation is 1019 meters.