Absolute Value | Definition, Symbol, & Facts - Britannica

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absolute value, Measure of the magnitude of a real number, complex number, or vector. Geometrically, the absolute value represents (absolute) displacement from the origin (or zero) and is therefore always nonnegative. If a real number a is positive or zero, its absolute value is itself. The absolute value of −a is a. Absolute value is symbolized by vertical bars, as in |x|, |z|, or |v|, and obeys certain fundamental properties, such as |a · b| = |a| · |b| and |a + b| ≤ |a| + |b|. A complex number z is typically represented by an ordered pair (a, b) in the complex plane. Thus, the absolute value (or modulus) of z is defined as the real number Square root of√a2 + b2, which corresponds to z’s distance from the origin of the complex plane. Vectors, like arrows, have both magnitude and direction, and their algebraic representation follows from placing their “tail” at the origin of a multidimensional space and extracting the corresponding coordinates, or components, of their “point.” The absolute value (magnitude) of a vector is then given by the square root of the sum of the squares of its components. For example, a three-dimensional vector v, given by (a, b, c), has absolute value Square root of√a2 + b2 + c2.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.