Which of these numbers has the largest absolute value?
ANegative 9
BPositive 5
CNegative 3
DPositive 1
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Negative 9
1. Absolute value is distance from zero, so the sign is ignored when comparing.
2. The distances here are 9, 5, 3 and 1.
3. The largest of those distances is 9, belonging to negative 9.
4. A negative number can therefore have a larger absolute value than a positive one.
_Source: OpenStax Prealgebra (CC BY 4.0), Ch 3 "Integers", section Absolute Value_
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