How do you simplify -|8 -2| - |1 - 6| +|3 -4| - |2 +5| ?

1 Answer
Oct 1, 2016

-17

Explanation:

Just remember how the absolute value works: it always returns the positive version of the number it has inside itself. So, the absolute value of a positive number is the positive number itself, while the absolute value of a negative number is the positive version of that number. In formulas:

|24| = 24, and |-57| = 57

So, let's see what's inside your absolute values: your equation is

-|8-2|-|1-6|+|3-4|-|2+5|

Doing the sums and differences inside the absolute values gives

-|6|-|-5|+|-1|-|7|

And now use what I said at the beginning: the absolute value of 6 is 6, the absolute value of -5 is 5, the absolute value of -1 is 1, and the absolute value of 7 is 7, and thus we have

-6-5+1-7=-17