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For this exercise, you need INTERNET EXPLORER 6.0 and above, with MathPlayer installed.

SOLVING ABSOLUTE VALUE SENTENCES, ALL TYPES

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This web exercise mixes up problems from the previous three web exercises:
Solving Absolute Value Equations
Solving Absolute Value Inequalities Involving "Less Than"
Solving Absolute Value Inequalities Involving "Greater Than"
Visit these earlier sections for a thorough discussion of the concepts.

THEOREM: solving absolute value sentences

Let  x , and let  k0 . Then,

|x|=k          x=± k

|x|<k         -k<x<k
|x|k         -kxk

|x|>k          x>k     or    x<-k
|x|k          xk     or    x-k

EXAMPLES:

Solve:   |2-3x |=7
Solution: Write a nice, clean list of equivalent sentences:
|2-3x |=7 (original equation)
2-3x= ±7 (use the theorem)
2-3x= 7    or    2-3x=- 7 (expand the plus/minus)
-3x=5    or    -3x=-9 (subtract  2  from both sides of both equations)
x=-5 3    or    x=3 (divide both sides of both equations by  -3 )

Solve:   3|-6x +7|9
Solution: Write a nice, clean list of equivalent sentences:
3|-6x +7|9 (original sentence)
|-6x+ 7|3 (divide by  3  to isolate the absolute value)
-3-6 x+73 (use the theorem)
-10- 6x-4 (subtract  7 )
106 x 46 (divide by  -6 ; change the direction of the inequality symbols)
23 x 53 (write in the conventional way)

Solve:   3|-6x +7|>9
Solution: Write a nice, clean list of equivalent sentences:
3|-6x +7|>9 (original sentence)
|-6x+ 7|>3 (divide by  3  to isolate the absolute value)
-6x+7 >3    or     -6x+ 7<-3 (use the theorem)
-6x>- 4    or      -6x<-10 (subtract  7 )
x<4 6    or     x> 106 (divide by  -6 ; change the direction of the inequality symbols)
x<2 3    or     x> 53 (write fractions in simplest form)

Solve:   |5-2x |>-3
Solution:   always true

Solve:   |5-2x |<-3
Solution:   always false

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Solve: