Inequalities

 What is Inequalities?

An inequality says that two values are not equal.

a ≠ b says that a is not equal to b

There are other special symbols that show in what way things are not equal.

a < b says that a is less than b
a > b says that a is greater than b
(those two are known as strict inequality)

a ≤ b means that a is less than or equal to b
a ≥ b means that a is greater than or equal to b.
 


Sometimes we need to solve like these:
Symbol
Words
Example



>
greater than
x + 3 > 2
<
less than
7x < 28
greater than or equal to
5 x - 1
less than or equal to
2y + 1 7



Example 1: 3x < 7 + 3

Solution: We can simplify 7 + 3 without affecting the inequality: 3x < 10

Example 2: x + 3 < 7

Solution: If we subtract 3 from both sides, we get:

                 x + 3 - 3 < 7 - 3 = x < 4

And that is our solution: x < 4

In other words, x can be any value less than 4.


Questions:

1) 12 < x + 5?          2) 3y < 15?          3)  -2y < -8

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