Equal, Greater or Less Than

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 (<) These are the important signs to know:

If two values are equal, we use the "equals" sign

example: 2+2 = 4

If two values are definitely not equal, we use the "not equal to" sign

example: 2+2 9

<

But if one value is smaller than another, we can use a "less than" sign.

example: 3 < 5

>

And if one value is bigger than another, we can use example: 9 > 6 a "greater than" sign

Less Than and Greater Than

The "less than" sign and the "greater than" sign look like a "V" on its side, don't they? To remember which way around the "<" and ">" signs go, just remember:

BIG > small small < BIG

The "small" end always points to the smaller number, like this:

The number on the open (or Larger) side of the bracket is always larger than the smaller side (point) Thus 3<5 means 3 is less than 5, and 7>2 means 7 is greater than 2. 5>9 would be incorrect, as 5 is not greater than 9.

Greater Than Symbol: BIG > small

All The Symbols

Here is a summary of all the symbols: Symbol Words equals not equal to Example Use 1+1=2 1+11

= > <

greater than less than

5>2 7<9

greater than or equal to less than or equal to

marbles 1 dogs 3

Why would you use these?

Because there are things you do not know exactly ... ... but can still say something about. So we have ways of saying what you do know (which may be useful!)

Example 1: John had 10 marbles, but lost some. How many has he now?
Answer: He must have less than 10:

Marbles < 10
If John still has some marbles we can also say he has greater than zero marbles:

Marbles > 0
But if we thought John could have lost all his marbles we would say

Marbles 0
In other words, the number of marbles is greater than or equal to zero.

Combining
You can sometimes say two (or more) things on the one line:

Example 2: Becky starts with $10, buys something and says "I got change, too". How much did she spend?
Answer: Something greater than $0 and less than $10 (but NOT $0 or $10):

"What Becky Spends" > $0 "What Becky Spends"< $10

This can be written down in just one line:

$0 < "What Becky Spends" < $10

That says that $0 is less than "What Becky Spends" (in other words "What Becky Spends" is greater than "$0") and what Becky Spends is also less than $10. Notice that ">" was flipped over to "<" when we put it before what Becky spends - always make sure the small end points to the small value.

A Long Example: Cutting Rope

Here is an interesting example I thought of:

Example 4: Sam cuts a 10m rope into two. How long is the longer piece? How long is the shorter piece?
Answer: Let us call the longer length of rope "L", and the shorter length "S" "L" must be greater than 0m (otherwise it wouldn't be a piece of rope), and also less than 10m:

L>0 L < 10
So:

0 < L < 10
That says that L is between 0 and 10 (but not 0 or 10) The same thing can be said about the shorter length "S":

0 < S < 10
But I did say there was a "shorter" and "longer" length, so we also know:

S<L
(Do you see how neat mathematics is? Instead of saying "the shorter length is less than the longer length", we can just write "S < L") We can combine all of that like this:

0 < S < L < 10

That says a lot: 0 is less that the short length, the short length is less than the long length, the long length is less than 10. Reading "backwards" we can also see: 10 is greater than the long length, the long length is greater than the short length, the short length is greater than 0. It also lets us see that "S" is less than 10 (by "jumping over" the "L"), and even that 0<10 (which we know anyway), all in one statement. NOW, I have one more trick. If Sam tried really hard he might be able to cut the rope EXACTLY in half, so each half would be 5m, but we know he didn't because we said there was a "shorter" and "longer" length, so we also know:

S<5
and

L>5
We can put that into our very neat statement here:

0 < S < 5 < L < 10

And IF we thought the two lengths MIGHT be exactly 5 we could change that to

0 < S 5 L < 10

An example using Algebra

Example 5: What is x+3, when you know that x is greater than 1? If x > 1 , then x+3 > 4

Addition
Addition is ...
... bringing two or more numbers (or things) together to make a new total.

Here 1 ball is added to 1 ball to make 2 balls: Using Numbers it is: And in words it is: 1+1=2 "One plus one equals two"

Example: If you add 2 and 3 you get 5. You would write it like this:

2+3=5

Try It
Write this down, with the answer, using numbers:

You should get: 4 + 3 = 7

Swapping Places
Swapping the position of the numbers you are adding still gets the same result!

3+2=5
... also ...

2+3=5

More Examples:

5+1=1+5=6 7 + 11 = 11 + 7 = 18 4 + 100 = 100 + 4 = 104

Practice
You get better at addition with practice, so we have: Math Trainer - Addition (train your memory) Kindergarten Worksheets (easy addition) Addition Worksheets (normal and advanced)

Tips and Tricks

Learn more on our Addition Tips and Tricks page

Addition Table
You can also "look up" answers for simple addition using the Addition Table (but it is really best to learn to remember the answers).

Example: Find 3 + 5

find the row starting with "3" move along to be under the column "5" and there is the number "8", so 3 + 5 = 8

+ 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5

2 3 4 5 6

3 4 5 6 7

4 5 6 7 8

5 6 7 8 9

6 7 8 9 10

7 8 9 10 11

Larger Numbers: Addition in Columns

To add larger numbers, you can use Column Addition :

Names
Other names for Addition are Sum, Plus, Increase, Total

And the numbers to be added together are called the "Addends":

How to do add, subtract, multiply and divide ...

Addition Subtraction Multiplication (and Long Multiplication) Division (and Long Division)

How to work with Decimals ...

1.25 Decimals Menu

How to work with Percentages ...

Percentages Menu

How to work with Fractions ...

Fractions Menu

Ordering Numbers
"Waiter, I would like a 7 and a 3, please..." NO, not THAT type of ordering. I mean putting them in order ...

To put numbers in order, place them from lowest (first) to highest (last). This is called "Ascending Order" (think of ascending a mountain) Example: Place 17, 5, 9 and 8 in ascending order.
Answer: 5, 8, 9, 17

Sometimes you want the numbers to go the other way, from highest down to lowest, this is called "Descending Order" (think of a "steep descent") Example: Place 17, 5, 9 and 8 in descending order.
Answer: 17, 9, 8, 5

Practice by neatening up your friends. Measure their heights, then place them in ascending order of height. Try it again, but use their weights.

Why did we add 2 to both sides?

To "keep the balance"...
Add 2 to Left Side Add 2 to Right Side Also

In Balance

Out of Balance!

In Balance Again

Number Line
Writing numbers down on a Number Line makes it easy to tell which numbers are bigger or smaller.

The Number Line

Negative Numbers (-) Positive Numbers (+) (The line continues left and right forever.)

Numbers on the right are bigger than numbers on the left: 8 is greater than 5 1 is greater than -1

But notice that -8 is smaller than -5

Try this interactive number line (click to mark):

View Larger

An Example
Example: John owes $3, Virginia owes $5 but Alex doesn't owe anything, in fact he has $3 in his pocket. Place these people on the number line to find who is poorest and who is richest.

Having money in your pocket is positive. But owing money is negative. So John has "-3", Virginia "-5" and Alex "+3" Now it is easy to see that Virginia is poorer than John (-5 is less than -3) and John is poorer than Alex (-3 is smaller than 3), and Alex is, of course, the richest!

Using The Number Line

Read How to Use the Number Line to Add and Subtract

Absolute Value
Absolute Value means to think only about how far a number is from zero.

For example "6" is 6 away from zero, but "-6" is also 6 away from zero. So the absolute value of 6 is 6, and the absolute value of -6 is also 6

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