Understanding Inequality Symbols
Think of inequality symbols as mathematical ways to say "bigger than" or "smaller than" - just like comparing your height to your mate's! The symbol means " is smaller than ", whilst means " is greater than ".
The symbols and are even more flexible. They mean "greater than or equal to" and "smaller than or equal to" respectively. This is brilliant when you need to include the boundary value itself.
Number lines make inequalities visual and easy to understand. When you see , imagine all numbers to the right of 4 on a number line. For , you'd include 4 itself (shown with a filled circle) plus everything to the left.
Quick Tip: Remember that means is trapped between 2 and 7, where 2 isn't included but 7 is!
