Google Classroom
GeoGebraGeoGebra Classroom

Absolute value problem models

Absolute value problems can be viewed in terms of distance. For example, |x - 3| = 2 means that the distance between x and 3 is 2. This means that x is 2 units to the right or left of 3, so x = 1 or x = 5. In a similar fashion, |x - 3| < 2 says the distance between x and 3 is less than 2, so the result is a line segment. In the third case, |x - 3| > 2 says the distance between x and 3 is more than 2, so the result is two rays.