<p>Hey I'm having trouble with this seemingly easy question, oh my. Can anyone help?</p>
<p>|m - 3| = 5
|k + 7| = 15</p>
<p>In the equation above, m < 0 and k < 0. What is the value of m - k?</p>
<p>A. -24
B. -14
C. 8
D. 16
E. 20</p>
<hr>
<p>So I understand that m and k have to be negatives. But it seems the absolutes confuse me as to what exactly is their value. I got -2 for m, which seems right according to the solution, but I got -8 for K....</p>
<p>probably just subtracting wrong</p>
<p>when you get rid of the absolute values you get: k + 7 = -15, subtract 7 and you get k = -22 not -8</p>
<p>so, -2 - (-22) = E. 20</p>
<p>hmm, how does k + 7 = -15 = |k + 7| ?</p>
<p>well, when you have an absolute value, to get rid of it you set two different equations with +- around what's inside equal to whatever it is</p>
<p>k + 7 = 15
and
-(k+7) = 15</p>
<p>instead of distributing the - in i just multiplied by -1 so it became k+7 = -15</p>