Like we saw earlier, integers is just a fancy name for whole numbers (0, 1, 2, 3,…) and their opposites (-1, -2, -3,…).
On the number line, negative numbers are found to the left of zero (0). The farther left you go, the smaller the number is. As you can see, -8 is smaller than -6, and -2 is smaller than +2.
When we're comparing negative and positive integers, be careful to think about the number line. For example, 4 is greater than -192, because positive 4 is to the right of zero on the number line, but -192 is pretty far to the left of zero. The number furthest to the right is always bigger.
That means when we compare two negative numbers, the negative number closer to zero is actually greater. For instance, -6 is greater than -10. Weird, right? Here are a few more examples using the inequality signs "greater than" (>) and "less than" (<).
-16 > -20
100 > -100
2 > -1
-7 < 5
-14 < 0
-11 < -10