What is the absolute value of the difference between 6 and -3?

What is the absolute value of the difference between 6 and -3?

• A. 3
• B. 12
• C. -3
• D. 9

Answer: (D)

Absolute value tells you how far a number is from zero, so it’s always nonnegative. To find the absolute value of the difference between 6 and -3, first find the difference: 6 minus -3 equals 9. The absolute value of 9 is 9, because 9 is already a distance from zero. So the answer is 9. The other options don’t fit: 3 would come from the difference between 6 and 3, not 6 and -3; 12 would come from a different pair like 6 and -6; and -3 isn’t possible since absolute value cannot be negative.

Absolute value tells you how far a number is from zero, so it’s always nonnegative. To find the absolute value of the difference between 6 and -3, first find the difference: 6 minus -3 equals 9. The absolute value of 9 is 9, because 9 is already a distance from zero. So the answer is 9. The other options don’t fit: 3 would come from the difference between 6 and 3, not 6 and -3; 12 would come from a different pair like 6 and -6; and -3 isn’t possible since absolute value cannot be negative.