The Symbols for Greater Than, Less Than, and Equal To

You will meet this idea in ordinary days. Signs and symbols carry meaning quickly. A sign pointing the wrong way tells a lie without any words. This is worth learning because symbols let you write a comparison quickly and read it back correctly.

Watch for it today, and when you spot it, tell someone what you noticed and how you knew. Ask yourself where else the same idea might be hiding, then go and look.

Watch this carefully, friend. Three symbols compare numbers. The greater than sign points its small end at the smaller number, like a hungry mouth opening toward the bigger amount: 62 is greater than 47. The less than sign points the other way: 47 is less than 62.

The equal sign means the two amounts are exactly the same. Read the sentence out loud after you write it and make sure it says something true.

Here is a memory helper. Think of the symbol as a mouth that always wants the bigger amount. Point the open side toward the larger number and the small point toward the smaller one. Then read your sentence aloud to check it says something true. If you get stuck, use your fingers or counters. Good mathematicians use tools.