Question

What is the absolute value of -36?

Answer 1

Hint: We are first going to explain the concept of absolute values. Absolute value of a number is the positive value of the number. In other words, it is the magnitude of the number or mod of the number represented by the $\left| {} \right|$ symbol known as the modulus operator. We use this to find the absolute value of -36 and write the answer.

Complete step-by-step solution:
In order to solve this question, let us explain the concept of absolute value using a few examples. Absolute value is used to indicate the magnitude of any number. It is the value of the number without the negative sign. Usually, a positive number is left as it is to obtain the absolute value. Let us take the example of two numbers 4 and -2.
The absolute value of 4 can be represented as,
$\Rightarrow \left| 4 \right|=4$
Here, since the number is already positive, its absolute value is the same as the number itself. Next for the number -2,
$\Rightarrow \left| -2 \right|=2$
The absolute value of the number is represented by neglecting the negative sign. Hence, for negative numbers, the absolute value is the magnitude of the number without the sign.
For the given question, the absolute value of -36 can be represented as,
$\Rightarrow \left| -36 \right|=36$
Hence, the absolute value of -36 is 36.

Note: The function of the modulus operator is to return the absolute or positive value of the given input number. The input number can have a positive, negative or zero as its input. Also, we can even solve this question by considering a number line from 0 to the given value and counting the number of points. By doing so, we are calculating the distance which is always a positive quantity.