Four Operational Rules

The symbol = means “is equal to”. For example, 3+5=8 and 12-5=7.

The symbol \neq means “is not equal to”. For example, 12-5\neq 10 and 5-3\neq 0.

The symbol > means “is greater than”. Since 10 is greater than 5, we write 10>5.

Inequalities, such as <, >, \le, \ge, are symbols used to express relationships between numbers that are not equal.

On a number line, the symbol > indicates numbers on the right, and < indicates numbers on the left.

The diagram below shows >2, and the open circle means 2 is not included, hence “greater than 2“.

The next diagram shows \geq 2:

The closed circle indicates that 2 is included, hence “greater than or equal to 2“.