inequality (inequalities)

An inequality contains two expressions separated by one of the following symbols: <, >, ≤ or ≥.

The symbol < represents ‘less than’.

The symbol > represents ‘greater than’.

The symbol ≤ represents ‘less than or equal to’.

The symbol ≥ represents ‘greater than or equal to’.

This is an example of an inequality:

2x + 4 < 14

We can solve this inequality to give x < 5. The answer to the inequality, therefore, is any number less than 5, e.g. 2, 4.9, –225.

Whenever an inequality is multiplied or divided by a negative number, the inequality must be reversed. Therefore, < changes to >, and so on.