Chaz is a college student. He has a checking out balance of -$52.00. His roommate Will's checking out balance is -$59.25. Chaz thinks that Will owes more to the bank than Chaz does. Is Chaz correct?
Yes.
Sorry, I'm confused. Why?
What do you think? Who owes more?
Note the negative numbers.
Chaz is correct because if you owe -$52.00 that is better than owing -$59.25.
To determine who owes more to the bank, we need to compare the absolute values of Chaz's and Will's checking account balances.
Chaz's checking account balance is -$52.00, and Will's is -$59.25. To compare the absolute values, we drop the negative signs.
The absolute value of -$52.00 is 52.00.
The absolute value of -$59.25 is 59.25.
Comparing the two absolute values, we can see that 59.25 is greater than 52.00. Therefore, Will owes more to the bank than Chaz does.