The absolute value of a number is its distance from 0 on the number line. Since distance is always greater than or equal to 0, the absolute value of any number is greater than or equal to 0.
|11/4| < |- 2.8|
Practice makes perfect
We want to complete the given statement. To do so, we will evaluate the absolute values on both sides.
|11/4| |- 2.8|
The absolute value of a number is the distance between this number and 0 on the number line. Since distance is always greater than or equal to 0, the absolute value of any number is greater than or equal to 0. The absolute value of a non-negative number is equal to the number, while the absolute value of a negative number is equal to its opposite.
With this in mind, let's simplify the both sides!
ccc
|11/4|= 11/4 [0.8em]
|- 2.8|= 2.8
Next, to compare the two numbers, it might be easier for us to write the first fraction as a decimal, so that both numbers are decimals.
11/4=2.75
We will plot the numbers on a number line to see which one is greater.
We can see that | 114| is located to the left of |- 2.8|. This means it is less than |- 2.8|. With this in mind, we can complete our statement.
