Big Ideas Math: Modeling Real Life, Grade 7
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Big Ideas Math: Modeling Real Life, Grade 7 View details
1. Rational Numbers
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Exercise 46 Page 8

Practice makes perfect

We want to determine which player wins the golf game. Let's start by looking at the given table.

Player Score
1 +5
2 0
3 - 4
4 - 1
5 +2
We know that the player with the lowest score relative to par wins. To find the lowest number, we can start by plotting all scores on the number line. Let's do it!
plotting point
We can see on the diagram that - 4 is farther to the left than all the other scores, which means that - 4 is the lowest score. Therefore, Player 3 wins!

We want to find the player who is closest to par. To do this, we have to find the score closest to 0. Let's start by recalling some facts about the absolute values.

  • The absolute value of a number line 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.
  • 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.
We can consider the distances between different numbers and 0 on the number line.
absolute value
To find the distance from each score to par, we will calculate the absolute value of each of the given scores. Let's do it!
Player Score Distance from Par
1 +5 | 5|= 5
2 0 | 0|= 0
3 - 4 |- 4|= 4
4 - 1 |- 1|= 1
5 +2 |2|= 2
Now we can plot the distances on a number line to see the order from least to greatest.
plotting point
We can see on the diagram that Player 2 scored 0 points relative to par. This means that Player 2 scored exactly par, so they are closest to par!

We want to find the player who is farthest from par. To do so, we have to find the score farthest from 0. Let's take another look at the table from part B.

Player Score Distance from Par
1 +5 | 5|= 5
2 0 | 0|= 0
3 - 4 |- 4|= 4
4 - 1 |- 1|= 1
5 +2 |2|= 2
We will plot the distances on a number line to see the order from least to greatest.
plotting point
We can see on the diagram that |5| is the farthest to the right. This means that Player 1 is farthest from par.