Samir incorrectly found the distance between -17 and 4 by following these steps:

step 1: |4 – (-17)|
step 2: |4 + 17|
step 3: |21|
step 4: the distance between -17 and 4 is -21.

in which step did samir make a mistake?
a) step 1
b) step 2
c) step 3
eliminate
d) step 4