This was the question:

Greater-than and less-than signs

Which directon does the point of the greater than sign face? The right or the left?

Professor Homunculus' answer:

This is one of the questions that can be answered better if we ask it differently.

How about, "How do we use greater-than/less-than symbols to show relative sizes of numbers?"

In that case, you can say, "The arrow always points to the smaller number."

That means that with 12 and 3 for instance, you would put a > if you wrote the 12 first, giving you 12>3. Now you know for sure that 12 is greater than 3, and the smaller end is pointing at 3, so you would logically call that symbol a "greater-than" symbol.

If you had 2 and 8, you would write 2<8 (because the arrow points to the smaller number) and you would call it a less-than symbol. If you had 8 and 2, you would write 8>2, and call it a greater-than sign.

So you see, when it is pointing right, it is called a greater-than sign, and when it is pointing left, it is called a less-than sign. But remembering it that way is pure rote memory, which is the dumbest way to learn, (and the most popular way for math teachers to teach!)

Learn the sense of it, and you will never be able to forget it, because you will understand why it works.

Unfortunately, teachers, administrators, and other beaurocrats like to ask stupid questions like, "Which way does the greater-than symbol point?" That is testing about their silly names for things, not about if you understand the things. Any test with a question like that should be chucked. A better way to ask is "Fill in the blank. 12____5 using > or <."

Here is a memory device to remember if the arrow points to the larger or smaller number:
The smaller end of the symbol points towards the smaller number. Makes sense, doesn't it? The reason to learn math is to use it to help your world make sense, not to pass some idiotic tests.

Hope this helped,

Professor Homunculus

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