Comparing Integers at a Glance

Which number is larger: -9 or -3?

It might be tempting to say -9 is bigger, but we'd better check a number line to make sure. Negatives can be tricky.

Now throw a dot on -9 and -3.

See how -3 is to the right of -9? That means -3 is actually the larger number.

Which number is smaller: 2 or -1?

When we're comparing integers, it's usually a good idea to bust out a number line.

We want the smaller number, which means the number further to the left. Looks like -1 is chilling to the left of 2, so -1 is the little guy here.

Order the following four numbers from least to greatest:

14, -11, 5.3, -π

We hate to sound like a broken record here, but the easiest way to tackle this problem is to throw everything on a number line. We've got two negative numbers, -11 and -π, so those go to the left of zero. Remember, π is roughly 3.14, so negative π is about -3.14.

Now we toss the positives into the mix, too. We've got positive 5.3, which sits a little bit to the right of positive 5, and positive 14.

Moving from left to right, we can order our four numbers from smallest to biggest:

-11, -π, 5.3, 14

Or, if we want to get fancy and use inequality symbols, we could write it like this:

-11 < -π < 5.3 < 14