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Why This Matters for Nursing: Temperature changes (dropped 3 degrees), fluid balance (negative 500 mL), and lab value changes all use positive and negative numbers. Understanding how they work prevents critical calculation errors.
Integers are whole numbers that can be positive, negative, or zero: - Positive: +1, +2, +3... (or just 1, 2, 3) - Negative: -1, -2, -3... - Zero: 0 (neither positive nor negative)
Absolute value |x| is the distance from zero—always positive: - |5| = 5 - |-5| = 5 - |0| = 0
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