Question

If Star A and Star B have the same absolute magnitude, but Star A is brighter, what does that tell us?

Answer 1

We can conclude that star A is closer to us than star B.

In fact, the absolute magnitude gives a measure of the brightness of the star, if all the stars are placed at the same distance from Earth. So, it's a measure of the absolute luminosity of the star, indipendently from its distance from us: since the two stars have same absolute magnitude, it means that if they were at same distance from Earth, they would appear with same luminosity. Instead, we see star A brighter than star B, and the only explanation is that star A is closer to Earth than star B (the closer the star A, the brigther it is)