Lesson 3: Understand Absolute Value of Rational Numbers6.NOS.8

I can…

I can find the absolute value of a rational number — an integer, fraction, or decimal — as its distance from zero.

Key words

• Integers and Absolute Value — Whole numbers and their opposites, and how far each is from zero.
• Integer — A whole number or its opposite, like 2 and −2.
• Positive — A number more than zero.
• Negative — A number less than zero.
• Absolute value — How far a number is from zero.
• Opposite — A number the same distance from 0 on the other side.
• Rational number — A number you can write as a fraction.
• Magnitude — The size of a number: its distance from zero.

Steps

1. I want to find the absolute value of -6, written |-6|.
2. I find -6 on the number line. It sits 6 steps to the left of zero.
3. Distance does not care about direction, so -6 is 6 units from zero.
4. So |-6| = 6. Even though -6 is negative, its absolute value is positive 6.

Try it

Which integer has an absolute value of 6 and is located to the LEFT of zero on the number line?

Check your answer

-6

To the left of zero means negative. The integer -6 has an absolute value of 6 because it is 6 units from zero.

Sentence starter

I know ___ because ___.

Goal: I can explain absolute value using the words distance, zero, opposite, and rational number.