Grade often used by:
1st Grade | 2nd Grade | 3rd Grade
Subject:
Math | Measurement and Data | Place Value
Standards:
Common Core State Standard:
2.NBT.A.4
Inequalities also often called comparatives in mathematics, in addition to this students often refer to these as “greater than and less than” problems.
An inequality is a mathematical statement that says one number is bigger or smaller than another. Most of the time, one of the following symbols is used to write an inequality:
“>” (greater than)
“<” (less than)
“≥” (greater than or equal to)
“≤” (less than or equal to)
“>” means “greater than,” “” means “less than,” and “” means “greater than or the same as” (less than or equal to)
For example, “x > 5” means that x is greater than 5, while “y 3” means that y is less than or equal to 3.
Inequalities can be used to show real-life situations, like “The temperature outside is higher than 32 degrees Fahrenheit” or “There are fewer than 50 people at the party.” They can also be used to solve problems in algebra, geometry, and computer science, among other fields. For example, the computer code that was used to create our math worksheet generator had inequality statements in it.