Greater than and less than signs

[iff]

So without looking it up, which is which?

 

I hate to admit it but it is something that despite my love of maths and daily use use of spreadsheets, I get confused on this 

 

I think > is greater than and < is less than

[daveb]

One way to think about it is the side of the sign that is wider is bigger and the side with the point is smaller, and we read from left to right (in the alphabet we are using here). So > means the thing on the left is greater than the thing on the right; and < means the thing on the left is lesser than the thing on the right.  

[Norellia]

I am so dumb when I was reading the question I thought you meant right as in the direction. So when I looked at where the arrows were pointing I was like NONE OF THESE ARE RIGHT TO ME DID I FORGET MY RIGHTS AND LEFTS AGAIN XDDDD. Took me like two minutes to figure out what you meant...I need to go take another nap....

[Epitaph]

Oh god these things fuck me up so bad. I was actually fine with them in school but I use them so rarely that when they come up I just freeze. I mean it's years of time between when I see them, like now.

[TheAP]

I think of it as the mouth of a crocodile that wants to eat the bigger number. But it takes me a little while to figure it out as well.

[timewarp]

You should use Fortran 77. It's .GT. and .LT. there. Can't get those wrong.

[iff]

37 minutes ago, daveb said:

One way to think about it is the side of the sign that is wider is bigger and the side with the point is smaller, and we read from left to right (in the alphabet we are using here). So > means the thing on the left is greater than the thing on the right; and < means the thing on the left is lesser than the thing on the right.  

It was only when reading the sign when I posted it that I had an inkling on it but usually the first on a spreadsheet in a work pressure situation, I do it wrong before correct it

13 minutes ago, TheAppallingPhantom said:

I think of it as the mouth of a crocodile that wants to eat the bigger number. But it takes me a little while to figure it out as well.

Fishes was what we used in school

[Blomdor]

I say that this strange, disembodied representation of a gaping mouth has no right and no qualification to declare one number greater than another. Why do we allow this creature to trample like a barbarian upon Number 2's hopes and dreams? We demand equality! 

[Grumpy Alien]

My teachers called it a Pacman and it eats the bigger number first. (eg 7<9, 9 is the entree and Pacman has 7 for dessert.)

[Alejandrogynous]

"The mouth eats the bigger number" is how I learned it. 

[Gloomy]

My math book from either kindergarten or first grade said it was like a dinosaur that preferred to eat the bigger number, so that’s how I’ve always remembered it.

[Cobie]

The smaller than sign can be made into a K, which is the first letter of the Dutch word for small, so it’s easy-peasy for the Dutchies.

[Cobie]

1 hour ago, daveb said:

One way to think about it is the side of the sign that is wider is bigger and the side with the point is smaller, and we read from left to right (in the alphabet we are using here). So > means the thing on the left is greater than the thing on the right; and < means the thing on the left is lesser than the thing on the right.  

Or you could use your German. 😀

[fiѕh]

1 hour ago, scare-iff of nottingham said:

Fishes was what we used in school

crocodiles and birds here  

[daveb]

The eating thing would just confuse me more. 

I think of those images of the bigger fishes eating the smaller ones.  

[Captain_Tass]

Even though I do remember which is which, I still have a bit of trouble with it. Like, I have to sit and think for a bit whether to put < or > somewhere. I've got an even bigger problem with "left" and "right" directions. Honestly, when someone says "to the left" I have to go through the thought process that I'm right handed and that my right hand is the one I use to write and draw so the left hand is the other one so left is the direction of that hand. Now, if someone tries to give me directions, they've completely lost me. I have to take a lot of time to process these directions, and I'll probably end up opening up google maps anyway. (My proudest achievement was opening google maps to go to a place two minutes away from my location because I couldn't remember how to go there for the life of me...)

 

Aaaaaand I'm rambling again.

[EngineeRaven]

It depends on what you put on the sides.

 

x<y is X smaller than Y and Y greater than X;

y>x means just the same.

 

My primary school maths teacher explained it to us like this: the sign is like a duck. The duck is hungry, so will turn towards the greater number.

[413horses]

On 10/27/2018 at 4:28 AM, TheAppallingPhantom said:

I think of it as the mouth of a crocodile that wants to eat the bigger number.

When I was taught these signs to begin with, my teacher made everyone draw teeth on their crocodile, and now I never forget it.

[Pramana]

I learned this in primary school through the Pacman analogy.

[sidx]

I always remembered it like a triangle with the little point at the little number and the big edge at the big number. My maths teacher taught us to think of it like a crocodile eating the bigger number but I preferred the triangle way.

[XYZ96]

I have no issue when it's surrounded by things with value and there isn't a specific reading direction, such as "X > Y" or "A < B", I see right away that X is greater then Y and B is greater than A, because the greater than/less than signs are hungry animals facing the value that is greater, because it wants the most food, but when it's in a sentence like "> is greater than and < is less than" I get confused, and am not sure. Basically, I tend to just see the greater than/less than sign as exactly the same sign (even if this isn't correct), so out of context they mean the same thing. 

[Skycaptain]

These were, in my day, some of the first things we were taught in school. 

[Goonie]

the first option

[Guest]

The tip points to the smaller number or variable (for example 0 < 1 < 2).

[Lunala]

The wide end points to the "greater" value, the tip/point points to the "lesser" value.

That means, for us aces,

 

cake > sex (cake is GREATER, thus more superior)

or

bojack horseman > riverdale (bojack horseman is GREATER, thus more superior)

[Larkaloke]

This is exactly the kind of thing that I get mixed up in my head a lot, but I have to use them enough in website coding that I'm confident that > is greater than and < is less than.

[Eva River]

I remember learning these as pacman... pacman wants to eat the bigger number, so the mouth is open on the side with the bigger number... lol 

[i aced it]

Surprised so many people chose the right one. Was taught crocodiles, personally.

[Soul Searcher]

On 10/27/2018 at 1:21 AM, iff said:

So without looking it up, which is which?

 

I hate to admit it but it is something that despite my love of maths and daily use use of spreadsheets, I get confused on this 

 

I think > is greater than and < is less than

You would be correct to think that.

[Strange-quark]

On 10/26/2018 at 11:43 PM, timewarp said:

You should use Fortran 77. It's .GT. and .LT. there. Can't get those wrong.

True! But no reason to such antiquity, the same works in Fortran 95 as well, and there's no need to label loops