By wishing each wish be considered separately, the genie cannot twist any wishes around. The absolute value of any number is its distance from 0, which means that by taking the absolute value of a negative number, it becomes positive ex: abs. value of -2, or |-2|, equals 2 . By wishing for a thousand FEWER wishes, she creates a loophole in the genie's rule by having |-1000| wishes, thereby giving her 1000 wishes.