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.
0.4 < |- 7/8|
Practice makes perfect
We want to complete the given statement. To do so, we will evaluate the absolute values on both sides.
0.4 |- 7/8|
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 right-hand side!
ccc
|- 7/8|= 7/8
We can write this fraction as a decimal number to make it easier for us to compare the numbers.
ccc
7/8=0.875
Now, we will plot the numbers on a number line to see which one is greater.
We can see that 0.4 is located to the left of |- 78|. This means it is less than |- 78|. With this in mind, we can complete our statement.
