A number’s absolute value is basically how far away from 0 on the number line is. So to find a number’s absolute value you have to square the number and then square root it. For example, for the number -7, it’s absolute value (which is written like this |-7|) and the find the absolute value, square it: which equals 49, then square root it: which equals 7. So |-7|=7. these |x| actual value bars almost act like brackets as well, meaning that you would have to do all the work inside those absolute value bars before anything else in the problem, however they cannot be multiplied with a number outside of them before the work is done inside.