Betty decides to support local artists by hanging their artwork in her shop. When decorating the coffee shop, Betty comes across the following formula for placing pictures on her walls: 1/3 |a-12|+ 2/3|a|where a equals the number of pictures that she would like to hang.

What is the value of this expression when a space equals space 9?

"when a space equals space 9"

you mean: a = 9 ??

Why not just plug in a = 9 and evaluate ?

btw, I have no clue what that formula is supposed to represent?