It's a thing that I've always thought that people over-complicate. It's just there, the small side with the small number the big side with the big number...

The teacher who first taught me told me “Pac Man wants to get the most points” and that stuck with me

I don't think I've ever been taught a mnemonic with animals

The small number is on the small side of the symbol, the large number is on the large side, it seems pretty intuitive to me, to be honest.

"Points at the smaller thing"

Every time I watch a student stall out on inequalities I ask "it's the crocodile isn't it?". Without fail, they've got confused by it and as soon as they hear "points at the smaller thing" they have no issues.

I got a zero on a math test in second grade because I said "the bigger number is on the bigger side" instead of "the crocodile wants to eat the bigger number", fuck you 2nd grade math teacher who made me hate math by being the thought police.

big side, big number

I'm a mechanical engineer, and I often have to do a double thumbs up with my hands like b_d. It's the only way I can remember what comes first in the alphabet. In danish you spell boat båd, and if you mess up the order the b and d will be on the outside of the boat and drown, like dåb. Still works 20 years later

< is part of a K. The K stands for Kleiner which means smaller in German/Dutch

I also have a theoretical degree in physics

Once I saw a (tailless) cow wearing uniform.

I never understood why so many people seemingly struggle with these signs to the point they need a mnemonic. The big side points to the big number and the small side to the small one. What even is there to remember?

Open end is big space (bigger number). Closed end is smaller space (smaller number).

I am 54, and still every fucking time.

I had no idea that people struggled with this so much and have come up with such crazy (to me) ways of figuring it out.

Most of the world, if asked to write down numbers 1-100 on a line, would do so left to right. The < and > symbols are arrows pointing left and right. To the left the numbers decrease (less than) and to the right the numbers increase (greater than).

All this stuff about crocodiles and ducks seems like such a bizarre way to remember it!

Edit: thanks for the comments, it's fascinating to get an insight on how differently people's brains work. Something that seems like such an obvious concept is just as baffling to others as the crocodile is for me.

To attempt to explain it better though: Say the number you're comparing to is 50. If x is less than that, say 30, then it would appear to the left of 50 in the list and the arrow would point that way <--. If it's greater than 50 then it would be to the right -->

<3 is "less than three", and 3 is "three" so logically < is "less than"

What the bird beak pecks is meek.

Surely in theoretical physics, the most common use of > is in a ket (eg. |ψ>).

I earned it as the larger part being on the side of the bigger number

.<:

i feel like i’ve been using latex for so long that at this point my brain has been rewired to see ≤ as ‘\le’ (less than or equal to) and ≥ as ‘\ge’ (greater than or equal to), and then this dictates how i view < and > as well

I've always been a fan of using > and < but in the general use of lesser than or greater than, however, the symbols were always interchangeable to me since it always depends on where you put the defined integer, correct?

If I want to say something is less than 37. It can either be 37 > or < 37.

Because in that scenario the imaginary integer n is always on the opposite side of the symbol.

37 > n

n < 37

So why did > ever become greater and < be less than? Doesn't it also depend on how your text is written? If people reading from right to left or down to up vs left to right and up to down, means it's reversed.

The open part of the caret is where the bigger number is, the opposite side is where the lesser number is.