• Trailblazing Braille Taser
      link
      fedilink
      English
      84 months ago

      I don’t understand this argument. I’ve heard high school teachers decree it as a mathematical truth before.

      Do we all agree absolute value is a function from reals to reals? If so, the absolute value of any real number is nonnegative. It can be zero or any positive numbers.

      Case closed, right?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        14 months ago

        It’s like taking a signed int and turning it into an unsigned int though. It doesn’t become positive it just loses its sign.

      • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)
        link
        fedilink
        English
        24 months ago

        It was my understanding that it’s like velocity vs speed. Positive/Negative numbers have a directional component, that is that they are above or below zero. Absolute values, however, lack a direction. They’re a value, but they don’t tell you if the value is positive or negative.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          114 months ago

          Absolute value shows only distance from the 0 value on the number line without the direction. All distances are positive when viewed without direction.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      54 months ago

      If your task is to turn any number that could be negative into positive then you would use abs right?