How do you solve abs(-2r-1)=11?

1 Answer
Oct 30, 2017

r = -6, r = 5

Explanation:

This is an absolute value equation meaning that we need to split this into two equations; the original equation and the opposite of it:

-2r-1 = 11 and -2r-1=-11
Notice that the 11 became -11.

Now we can solve this by simplifying. Let's simplify the first one:
-2r-1 = 11
-2r = 12
r = -6

Second one:
-2r-1 = -11
-2r = -10
r = 5

Now let's check our work by plugging what we got for r back into the original equation |-2r-1| = 11.
|-2(-6) -1|= 11
|12-1| = 11
11 = 11 :)

|-2(5)-1|=11
|-10-1| = 11
|-11| = 11
11 = 11 :)

So our two solutions are r = -6 and r = 5.