Explain the difference between |-3| and -3
| anything| is POSITIVE
-3 is negative
the difference is 6
To understand the difference between |-3| and -3, let's break it down step by step.
|-3| represents the absolute value of -3. The absolute value of a number is always its distance from zero on the number line. So, |-3| is equal to 3 because the distance between -3 and 0 is 3 units. Regardless of whether a number is positive or negative, its absolute value is always positive.
On the other hand, -3 is a negative number itself. It represents a value that is less than zero and has a negative sign ("-") in front of it.
To summarize:
|-3| = 3 (the absolute value of -3, always positive)
-3 = -3 (a negative number less than zero)
To find the absolute value of a number, you can simply remove the negative sign, if any, and consider the positive value of that number. In this case, |-3| is calculated by removing the negative sign from -3, leaving us with 3.