Question

Evaluate the expression - |7-9|

Answer 1

Answer: -2

Step-by-step explanation: As our first step, we simplify inside the absolute value. 7 - 9 is -2 so we have -|-2|.

A common mistake at this point in the problem is to change the minus a negative to plus a positive but don't fall into this trap.

We must ignore the negative outside the absolute value until our very last step in this problem.

So we take the absolute value of -2 which is 2 and we have -(2) or -2.

Notice that I used parentheses around the 2 as it comes out of the absolute value.