1Cademy - Explain what absolute value means on a number line. Why is the absolute value of a number never negative? Finally, explain why opposite numbers like $$12$$ and $$-12$$ have the same absolute value.

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Absolute Value

Essay

Explain what absolute value means on a number line. Why is the absolute value of a number never negative? Finally, explain why opposite numbers like $12$ and $-12$ have the same absolute value.

Question: Explain what absolute value means on a number line. Why is the absolute value of a number never negative? Finally, explain why opposite numbers like $12$ and $-12$ have the same absolute value.

Sample answer: The absolute value of a number is its distance from $0$ on the number line. Because distance cannot be negative, an absolute value is always zero or positive. Opposite numbers like $12$ and $-12$ have the same absolute value because they are both exactly $12$ units away from $0$ .

Key points:

Absolute value represents a number's distance from $0$ on the number line.
Distance cannot be negative, so absolute value is never negative.
Opposite numbers share the same absolute value because they are the same distance from $0$ .

Rubric: A correct response should define absolute value as the distance from $0$ , explain that distance is never negative, and state that opposites (like $12$ and $-12$ ) are the same distance from $0$ .

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Updated 2026-06-18

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