Is magnitude of acceleration the absolute value or the speed derivative?

[tomas123]

My prof. made me question what magnitude of acceleration is.. Is it acceleration without direction, i.e -6 m/s/s becomes 6 m/s/s or is it ΔV(speed)/Δt (Sorta like magnitude of acceleration is to acceleration what speed is to velocity)?

 

[abrewmaster]

The magnitude of acceleration is just how much the object is accelerating regardless of the direction. So if the example is -6 $\frac{m}{s^{2}}$ then you're looking for how much is it accelerating in general which would be 6 $\frac{m}{s^{2}}$ like you said.