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#1 2008-02-10 11:27:15

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Equal, Less and Greater Than

Improved this page with more examples: Equal, Less and Greater Than Symbols

What do you think?


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#2 2008-02-10 12:46:58

JaneFairfax
Member
Registered: 2007-02-23
Posts: 6,868

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Grammatically I would most probably say “John had fewer than 10 marbles” since the “marbles” is a countable noun. tongue

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#3 2008-02-10 13:27:20

John E. Franklin
Member
Registered: 2005-08-29
Posts: 3,588

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Sweet page.
The opening sentence with the parthesis bothers me though because the
parenthesis makes the reading hard.  How about:
Sometimes numbers are not the same, and when this happens, we
have symbols to express this.  If something is bigger, then the other
thing is smaller, so there is a symbol for this.  This is what is looks
like.    >  Looks like the letter V on its side.  You can make the
letter V fall over to the left like >, or you can make the letter
V fall over to the right like <.   Then you can put numbers and
really anything you want on the right and left of this funny sideways
V.


igloo myrtilles fourmis

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#4 2008-02-10 20:18:23

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

JaneFairfax wrote:

Grammatically I would most probably say “John had fewer than 10 marbles” since the “marbles” is a countable noun. tongue

Ah yes ... the little known "fewer than" sign tongue

John E. Franklin wrote:

Sweet page.
The opening sentence with the parthesis bothers me though because the
parenthesis makes the reading hard.  How about: ...

At your prompting I completely rewrote the beginning of the page ... what do you think now?


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#5 2008-02-11 17:43:13

John E. Franklin
Member
Registered: 2005-08-29
Posts: 3,588

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Pretty good.

As well as the familiar equals sign (=)
it is also very
useful to show
if something is not equal to ()
greater than (>)
or less than (<)

Last edited by John E. Franklin (2008-02-11 17:47:01)


igloo myrtilles fourmis

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#6 2008-02-11 20:44:00

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Thanks!


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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#7 2008-02-11 23:47:35

Daniel123
Member
Registered: 2007-05-23
Posts: 663

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Maybe you could say that if you're using inequalities in algebra you need to flip the symbol if you divide/multiply by a negative number?

Last edited by Daniel123 (2008-02-12 03:46:57)

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#8 2008-02-12 02:50:51

mathsyperson
Moderator
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 4,900

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

I'd say algebraic inequalities deserve a page of their own. That one example at the end is alright because it's a tiny introduction, but after that I'd put a "For more algebraic fun, go here"-type link.


Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

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#9 2008-02-12 09:03:10

MathsIsFun
Administrator
Registered: 2005-01-21
Posts: 7,711

Re: Equal, Less and Greater Than

Yes,I need such a page.


"The physicists defer only to mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God ..."  - Leon M. Lederman

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