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#1 2007-09-26 09:20:57

Sabrina10
Guest

Math Problem

Can someone help me with this?

The math problem is this:

Find values of a and b for which the statement is true:

     | a + b |  <   | a |  +  | b |   

Thank u!

#2 2007-09-26 09:46:09

Ricky
Moderator
Registered: 2005-12-04
Posts: 3,791

Re: Math Problem

It's pretty well known that |a + b| ≤ |a| + |b| for all real number a and b.  This is known as the triangle inequality (you can search for it on google).  So the only question you have to answer is when is it that:

|a + b| ≠ |a| + |b|

The answer to this question is the same as the answer to yours.


"In the real world, this would be a problem.  But in mathematics, we can just define a place where this problem doesn't exist.  So we'll go ahead and do that now..."

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