this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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Exactly, both of those statements convey the same information but are encoded in different ways.
To a foreigner, seeing the > < brackets may be more contextual than it is symbolic.
You're arguing 6x3 or 3x6
They're the same
Yes, but if you have
5 > 3, you can read the ">" in two different ways:So which one is the correct way to spell out ">"? I also was confused about that for some time, since I was taught that the pointy end always points to the smaller number which is intuitive and can very easily be remembered, but I still had to memorize which symbol is pronounced as "less than" and which is pronounced as "greater than" until I realized that at least in every language I speak it's always read from left to right.
It still takes a bit of a second for me once in a while these days to remember the correct name for the signs when I see them.
The way my mind works is I find it faster to reconstruct the meaning every time rather than attempt to memorize which one is said which way.
Example: 3<5
My mind:
3 is the small number / 5 is the large number.
How do I say that in a sentence?
Three is less than five.
I do the math, not remember the definition.