How to find the absolute value of a number in Python

How to find the absolute value of a number in Python.

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to find the absolute value of a number in Python:

Step 1: Understand what the absolute value is The absolute value of a number is its distance from zero on the number line. It is always a positive value. For example, the absolute value of -5 is 5, and the absolute value of 10 is 10.

Step 2: Use the abs() function Python provides a built-in function called abs() that can be used to find the absolute value of a number. This function takes a single argument, which can be an integer or a float, and returns the absolute value of that number.

Step 3: Assign the number to a variable Start by assigning the number to a variable. This will make it easier to reuse the number and calculate its absolute value multiple times if needed.

Here's an example code snippet that demonstrates how to find the absolute value of a number using the abs() function:

# Assign the number to a variable
number = -5

# Use the abs() function to find the absolute value
absolute_value = abs(number)

# Print the result
print("The absolute value of", number, "is", absolute_value)

Output:

The absolute value of -5 is 5

You can also directly pass a number to the abs() function without assigning it to a variable:

# Use the abs() function directly
absolute_value = abs(-10)

# Print the result
print("The absolute value is", absolute_value)

Output:

The absolute value is 10

Step 4: Handle user input If you want to find the absolute value of a number entered by the user, you can use the input() function to get the input as a string and then convert it to an integer or float before using the abs() function.

Here's an example that demonstrates this:

# Get user input
number_str = input("Enter a number: ")

# Convert the input to an integer
number = int(number_str)

# Use the abs() function to find the absolute value
absolute_value = abs(number)

# Print the result
print("The absolute value of", number, "is", absolute_value)

Output:

Enter a number: -7
The absolute value of -7 is 7

Congratulations! You now know how to find the absolute value of a number in Python using the abs() function.