0

Good day. I'm an A-Level student and I've recently learnt about the modulus operation. Based on both wikipedia and my A-Level textbook, for $x\lt 0, |x|= -x$. However, since $0 = -0, |0| = -0$ and thus when $x = 0, |x| = -x$. Therefore, shouldn't the definition of the modulus function be : for $x\leq 0, |x| = -x$?

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_value

cqfd
  • 12,219
  • 6
  • 21
  • 51
Robin Ting
  • 39
  • 1
    $0=-0$ means the definition can go either way, but $|x|=x:x=0$ is easier, and $|0|=0$ is easier still. What benefits would your proposed definition provide, and how do they supersede the simplicity of the conventional definition? – Nij Dec 01 '18 at 04:19
  • $a\times 0=0\forall a\in\mathbb{R}$ – Sujit Bhattacharyya Dec 01 '18 at 04:31
  • Just thought that |x| = -x when x ≤ 0 would be a more accurate definition for the case where |x| = -x – Robin Ting Dec 01 '18 at 04:53

0 Answers0