Posted by shansen1@pacbell.net (66.126.110.148) on October 01, 2003 at 00:38:16:
In Reply to: Absolute value in an equation posted by on September 30, 2003 at 19:36:09:
|x-1|/2 = 8
Step 1
Multiply both sides of this equation by 2, giving
|x-1| = 16
According to the definition of "absolute value", the quantity inside the brackets is either +16 or -16. Treat these cases separately.
Case 1
x-1 = +16
This gives x = 17
Case 2
x-1 = -16
This gives x = -15
So the answer is x = {17, -15}