Talk:Inequality
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Do the symbols ">" and "<" have names?
- Greater-than and less-than, 'bra' and 'ket,' left and right 'brokets.'
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- Actually, "greater-than" and "less-than" are the most correct names. Brackets are somthing else, and they should be drawn thinner and taller than true inequality symbols. Melchoir 03:08, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
- As mathematical operators, "greater-than" and "less-than" are the only correct terms; sometimes "sign" or "operator" is appended. When used for bracketing, they're often called "angle brackets". The "double angle brackets" symbols « and » that are used for French quotations and are properly called guillemets. See quotation mark#Angled quotation marks in various European languages for more. Deco 03:13, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
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- I want to stress that < and > should never be used as any kind of brackets, so if you ever have the occasion to call them brackets, then someone has already screwed up. In decent mathematical typesetting, these are the symbols used as, and called, angle brackets:
End rant! Melchoir 03:27, 3 November 2005 (UTC)- P.S. ...except for email addresses.
- ...and HTML tags. :0) capitalist 03:58, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
- see comment about somebody already screwing up. 128.135.133.72 19:53, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] Error
In the article is stated that: "For any real numbers, "a", "b", and "c": If c is negative and a > b; then a × abs(c) < b × abs(c) where abs(c) is the absolute value of c". But since abs(c) is positive..shouldnt a*abs(c) > b*abs(c) ? S Sepp 20:49, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
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- Yes, I've fixed it now. This whole section needs to be reformmated. Paul August ☎ 21:17, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Alligator mnemomic
In the article the alligator mnemonic was mentioned as commonly used in the education of "less than" and "greater than". I have found this to be the rule rather than the exception throughout the United States. I believe its popularity should indeed be noted in this article, however, I also believe that its use should be curtailed if not eliminated due to the future confusion it sets up for students that learn it.
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- Daniel Patterson 18:44, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
- I don't have statistics on how this is commonly taught, but I learned it in two ways. The first was to think of the inequality sign as an arrow, which always points to the lesser value (the value to the left on the real number line). The second way was to remember that the narrow part of the symbol always faces the lesser value, while the wide part of the symbol always faces the greater value. capitalist 04:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
- Daniel Patterson, why does it set up 'future confusion'? Njál 19:13, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
- I don't have statistics on how this is commonly taught, but I learned it in two ways. The first was to think of the inequality sign as an arrow, which always points to the lesser value (the value to the left on the real number line). The second way was to remember that the narrow part of the symbol always faces the lesser value, while the wide part of the symbol always faces the greater value. capitalist 04:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)
- Daniel Patterson 18:44, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
The whole thing about the negatives just reaked of wikibikering so I deleted it. 128.135.133.72 19:51, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] feasible region
what the hell is that picture doing on this page? Feasible region isn't explained in this article, nor does it have a page on wikipedia. The picture therefore does nothing to aid this page. I would remove it.. but I would hope that instead someone can explain what it is. Fresheneesz 23:32, 8 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] need help
what do you call the type of notation for inequalities where x>5 is expressed [5,(infinity)]65.7.3.10 16:56, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
- See Interval (mathematics). (By the way, use a ")", not "]", after the (infinity) symbol.) –dto 03:50, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Confusing < and >
"Young students sometimes confuse the less-than and greater-than signs"
I'm curious: do dyslexic people have trouble with this as well? (More than 'older' students, who I think can still have as much trouble as young ones.) Njál 19:10, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] not <, not >
What are the modern symbols for 'not greater than' and 'not less than'? Njál 19:10, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
and 
[edit] Power Inequalities
Can someone figure out what the subject and predicate of this first sentence are and explain what it's trying to say? It reads like grammatical gibberish at the moment, and without knowing it's point I can't fix it:
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- "Sometimes with notation "power inequality" understand inequalities which contain ab type expressions where a and b are real positive numbers or expressions of some variables."
Thanks. capitalist 02:34, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Complex numbers
Complex numbers (with nonzero imaginary parts) are cannot be compared using inequalities. I think the article should explain this.
Tried to add the item, but couldn't get the format straight. Can some make it look a little bit prettier?
