
The best way to remember the direction is that the sign will point at the smallest number like an arrow. When teaching greater than and less than signs, the biggest mistake is writing the symbols the wrong way around.įortunately, the signs are the same shape, just in reverse directions. We could also think of the less than sign as a crocodile that wants to eat the larger number. This symbol means that the number provided is less than or equal to the one on the left. Think of the symbol as an arrowhead which always points towards the smaller number. It means that the number on the left side is bigger compared to the one on the. We can use the same two methods that we used previously to remember which comparison sign represents ‘less than’. What Does Greater and Less than Symbol Mean > This symbol means greater than. It is good to work with cards that include these symbols, so they can easily. However, the symbol is used in 99 percent of cases. Symbolic representation of equal, greater, or less can be complicated for children.

We know this because 6 is on the left of 8 on the number line. Mathematically, there are different inequalities symbols to represent greater than or equal to. In the example below, we can see that 6 is a smaller number than 8. The crocodile is hungry and wants to eat the larger number. This arrowhead points to the smaller number.Īnother way to remember which symbol is the greater than sign, is to think of the symbol as a crocodile. One way that we can remember which sign to put in between the numbers is to think of the comparison sign as an arrowhead. So, we say that three is greater than one. In the example below, we can see that 3 is a larger number than 1. The further we go to the right on our number line, the larger our number.Ī number is greater than another number if it is further to the right of it on the number line. To determine if a number is greater than or less than another number we can look at a number line.
It is made of two equal sliding lines that connect to each. To identify the less than (<), greater than (>) and equal () signs.We will use some examples of greater than or less than signs to look at ways to remember the direction in which the greater and less than signs are drawn when comparing two numbers. A Greater Than Symbol is used to compare two values when one value is always greater than another. Once students place the greater than, less than or equal sign card in the box, they can check themselves with the QR code, or you can have them place the symbols on the cards and have others check. There are 66 different cards with numbers up to 99. This is read as ‘four is less than five’. These task cards are a perfect way to help students with greater than and less than.

We read this as ‘five is greater than four’. The greater than sign means ‘bigger than’ or ‘larger than’. In this lesson we are comparing numbers and writing comparison symbols in between the numbers to show which is the larger number.
