Table of Contents
- Absolute Value Example
- Summary
- What’s Next?
In the previous segment, we learnt what Absolute value of a number means. In this segment, we will understand the concept better with a real-life example.
Application of absolute value – Example
Q. Assume you are in Kansas. New York lies 1500 miles to your east and California 1500 miles to the west. One day you decide to travel to New York to meet your friend. After having covered around 400 miles, you get a phone call that you have to be in California for an important meeting. So, you turn around and travel to California. After the meeting, you are on your way back home. After covering around 600 miles, you decide to stop for lunch.
Now, you have to find the following:
- How far are you from Kansas?
- How much distance have you covered travelling back and forth?
Solution:
Assuming Kansas as the reference point, the sequence of events are as follows:
- Travelled 400 miles east towards New York
- Travelled to California from that point.
So the total distance travelled to reach California is: 400 + 1500 = 1900 miles
- From California, travelled 600 miles to the east towards Kansas.
