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positivity (mander.xyz)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I might be wrong, but I thought absolute values weren't positive or negative?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't understand this argument. I've heard high school teachers decree it as a mathematical truth before.

Do we all agree absolute value is a function from reals to reals? If so, the absolute value of any real number is nonnegative. It can be zero or any positive numbers.

Case closed, right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

It's like taking a signed int and turning it into an unsigned int though. It doesn't become positive it just loses its sign.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (2 children)

They're not negative, thus they're positive.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It was my understanding that it's like velocity vs speed. Positive/Negative numbers have a directional component, that is that they are above or below zero. Absolute values, however, lack a direction. They're a value, but they don't tell you if the value is positive or negative.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

Absolute value shows only distance from the 0 value on the number line without the direction. All distances are positive when viewed without direction.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What about non binary numbers?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Those are just complex.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If your task is to turn any number that could be negative into positive then you would use abs right?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'd use a pencil. I'm too out-of-shape to have abs, particularly ones I could do math with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

If you're out of shape then you can use your abs for non-Euclidean geometries

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Technically true, but they are always graphed in positive quadrants.