I all way get confused when to change the value from positive to negative when working a algebra equation can you help me?  

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When you go up a number line (from L --> R), you are moving in a positive direction. If you go down a number line, that's negative. When you think of absolute value, direction doesn't matter. It's just the space between 2 numbers that you want to know. To find the distance between -3 and 5 or 5 and -3, count the number of spaces. Whichever way you go there are still 8 spaces between those 2 numbers. That's why the absolute value of any number is always positive.So when you have to solve something like: |8| + 3 =? |8| = 8 --> so that's the same as 8+3 = 11|-8| + 3 =?|-8| also = 8 --> so that's also the same as8+3 = 11If you have something like this, use the same idea but watch your steps.To solve |5+2| =? Simplify inside first. |5+2|= |7|= 7What about |-5+2|=? Simplify inside first.   |-5+2| = |-3|= 3