Absolute value is a distance, and a distance is never negative. These free printable worksheets ask for the value of expressions written between the two bars, including ones where there is arithmetic to do inside first.
|−7| = 7 because −7 sits seven steps from zero, and the direction is not part of the question. Introduced as "drop the minus sign" it is a trick with no meaning attached, and children taught that way write |3 − 8| = 5 correctly and |−3| − 8 = 5 incorrectly, having no idea the two are different.
Why this sheet works
The bars behave like brackets. Whatever is inside gets worked out first, and only then does the sign get dropped, which is why some questions here have a subtraction inside them. That is the case where the distance reading actually earns its keep: |3 − 8| is how far apart 3 and 8 are.
How this one works
One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.
|−11|
|−11|
|−11|=11
The two bars ask for a DISTANCE: how far the thing between them is from zero. A distance is never negative, and that is a fact about distance rather than a rule about minus signs.
−11 sits 11 steps from zero — on the low side, but the question asked how FAR, not which way. So |−11| = 11.
Work out each one. The bars ask how far the number is from zero.
1|−11|=
2|7 − 8|=
3|6 − 18|=
4How far apart are −9 and 3 on the number line?
5|−12| + |1|=
6|2| + |−9|=
7|−20|=
8How far apart are −7 and 11 on the number line?
Absolute value · Numbers within 20Answer key
1. |−11| → 112. |7 − 8| → 13. |6 − 18| → 124. How far apart are −9 and 3 on the number line? → 125. |−12| + |1| → 136. |2| + |−9| → 117. |−20| → 208. How far apart are −7 and 11 on the number line? → 18
