what is the absolute value of a number

The absolute value of a number is the distance that number is from 0 eg. |34| = 34   |-45| = 45    -|42| = -42

The absolute value of a number (typically represented as |10| ) represents its value as a unit of its distance from zero on the number line. This means that both -10 and 10 would have the same absolute value of 10, due to the fact that they both are ten places from zero on the number line. 

Absolute values become importnat when working with numbers that would otherwise produce undefined or incorrectly negative answers in certain calcuations.