What happens to the linear function of y = mx + b when the m is positive compared to when the m is negative

The expression 6x2 gives the surface area of a cube, and the expression x3 gives the volume of a cube, where x is the length of one side of the cube. find the surface area and the volume of a cube with a side length of 6m

Suppose that 3% of all athletes are using the endurance-enhancing hormone epo (you should be able to simply compute the percentage of all athletes that are not using epo). for our purposes, a “positive” test result is one that indicates presence of epo in an athlete’s bloodstream. the probability of a positive result, given the presence of epo is .99. the probability of a negative result, when epo is not present, is .90. what is the probability that a randomly selected athlete tests positive for epo? 0.0297

Does anyone know how to solve and graph this: 4 + | a + 2 | < 7the only part i don't get is the "4 +"