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1. Strict inequality between two numbers; means and is read as "less than". 2. Commonly used for denoting any strict order. 3. Between two groups, may mean that the first one is a proper subgroup of the second one. > (greater-than sign) 1. Strict inequality between two numbers; means and is read as "greater than". 2.
In mathematical writing, the greater-than sign is typically placed between two values being compared and signifies that the first number is greater than the second number. Examples of typical usage include 1.5 > 1 and 1 > −2. The less-than sign and greater-than sign always "point" to the smaller number.
The relation not greater than can also be represented by , the symbol for "greater than" bisected by a slash, "not". The same is true for not less than , a ≮ b . {\displaystyle a\nless b.} The notation a ≠ b means that a is not equal to b ; this inequation sometimes is considered a form of strict inequality. [ 4 ]
A variety of different symbols are used to represent angle brackets. In e-mail and other ASCII text, it is common to use the less-than (<) and greater-than (>) signs to represent angle brackets, because ASCII does not include angle brackets. [3] Unicode has pairs of dedicated characters; other than less-than and greater-than symbols, these include:
As an example, "is less than" is a relation on the set of natural numbers; it holds, for instance, between the values 1 and 3 (denoted as 1 < 3), and likewise between 3 and 4 (denoted as 3 < 4), but not between the values 3 and 1 nor between 4 and 4, that is, 3 < 1 and 4 < 4 both evaluate to false.
In an inequality, the less-than sign and greater-than sign always "point" to the smaller number. Put another way, the "jaws" (the wider section of the symbol) always direct to the larger number. The less-than-sign is sometimes used to represent a total order , partial order or preorder .
A number is negative if it is less than zero. A number is non-negative if it is greater than or equal to zero. A number is non-positive if it is less than or equal to zero. When 0 is said to be both positive and negative, [citation needed] modified phrases are used to refer to the sign of a number: A number is strictly positive if it is greater ...
unstrict inequality signs (less-than or equals to sign and greater-than or equals to sign) 1670 (with the horizontal bar over the inequality sign, rather than below it) John Wallis: 1734 (with double horizontal bar below the inequality sign) Pierre Bouguer