If I had a list of numbers, some positive, some negative and wanted to add them together, ignoring the sign, is there a mathematical term for the result???

For example:
-1
-5
+2
+3
—
11
—

Or has my distant memory of A Level maths let me down?

The sum of them?

'wrong' ?

You wont be 'adding' them if they are different signs to get that answer.

Can I ask why?

summation of the absolute values?

sum of the magnitudes?

|-1| + |-5| + |+2| + |+3| = 11

Sum of the square roots of the squares?

Absolute Values – that's the term I was thinking of…

Basically have a whole load of misprocessed entries I and want to measure the total ****-up rather than netting them off and making it look better than it is…

Much appreciated bristolbiker

'Sum of the total ****-up' sounds way better to me 🙂

I win!!! 😀 If you have the data electronically, Excel has an absolute function, so you can sum the column/row as-is or sum the absolute values and then see the difference

why do i get -1?

The absolute value is also known as the modulus of the number.