Interpreting absolute value

The topic  appears under the 7th Grade Math Mission. This exercise involves context problems that use positive and negative numbers of different magnitudes to understand the subtle differences between size and magnitude.

Types of Problems
There is one type of problem in this exercise:


 * 1) Answer the questions: This problem describes two numbers, usually one which is positive and one that is negative. In one question the student is asked which number is larger or smaller, and in the other it has a question about the magnitude of the number.Iav1.png

Strategies
This exercise can be done in several different ways, for example, thinking of numbers on a number line, or geometrically as a quantity.
 * 1) Positive numbers are always greater than negative numbers and negative numbers are always lesser than positive numbers.
 * 2) The sign of the number is irrelevant when considering the absolute value or magnitude.
 * 3) Although the answer for the first question and the second question are different most of the time, there are occasions where they are the same so it is important to read carefully.