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Understanding Absolute Values

Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic
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by Bullzi » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:33 pm
Hello..

I have been having trouble with questions on Absolute Values. I realize that I may not have grasped all the basics right, yet. Do you have any suggestions on good resources I could use to understand all that's required about Absolute Value concepts that get tested on GMAT?

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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:43 am
Hi Bullzi,

Taking an 'algebra-heavy' approach to Absolute values might be what's causing the 'trouble' that you're experiencing. Most (if not all) Absolute Value questions can be solved with a bit of 'brute force' and TESTing VALUES.

Do you have any examples of specific Absolute Value questions that are giving you trouble? If you do, then you should post them in the Forums.

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by Bullzi » Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:51 am
Thanks Rich for your response..

I went back to brush up my basics again and I figured I was doing two main things wrong,

1. I was forgetting or not realizing that there could be two values of x in the equation |x| = 1
2. I wasn't testing probable extraneous solutions back on the original equation thereby getting answer solutions wrong

Let me try some problems again and post a few troublesome ones on the forum. Thanks again..!

Thanks
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:13 pm
Not to plug my own company here, it's just the resource I know best... Manhattan's Foundations of Math guide takes you through the basics of all of these algebraic concepts, and gives you numerous drill sets to practice these. We also have additional online drill sets to help you to establish solid foundations.

More information here: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/stor ... gmat-math/
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by patco » Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:19 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi Bullzi,

Taking an 'algebra-heavy' approach to Absolute values might be what's causing the 'trouble' that you're experiencing. Most (if not all) Absolute Value questions can be solved with a bit of 'brute force' and TESTing VALUES.

Do you have any examples of specific Absolute Value questions that are giving you trouble? If you do, then you should post them in the Forums.

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Rich
Good point. Thank you. This helped me too! :)
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Thu May 11, 2017 8:18 pm
Here's a good walkthrough.
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Thu May 11, 2017 8:20 pm
Some of the crucial properties:

|x - y| is the distance between x and y on the number line

|x + y| is the distance between x and -y on the number line

|x| ≥ 0 for all x

|x| = 0 if and only if x = 0

|x| = √x²

|x| = y has two solutions: x = y and -x = y
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