The distance between two real numbers is the absolute value of their difference, . So the statement "all that are 1/4 away from -6" is captured in the equation
or
To solve, you can use the definition of absolute value: if is not negative, then ; otherwise, .
So there are two cases to consider:
1. Suppose . Then , and the equation reduces to
2. Suppose . Then and
, so the two solutions we found are correct because both and are indeed 1/4 away from -6.
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For the question regarding inequality, you know that the absolute value must return a non-negative number. In other words, there is no such that .