Things to Do with Real Numbers Examples

Which is smaller: -200 or 5?

Since -200 is to the left of 5 on the number line, we say that -200 is less than 5. This is abbreviated in symbols by -200 < 5.

Which is bigger: the absolute value of -200, or 5?

Remember that the absolute value of a number is the number of steps it takes to reach that number from zero. (You can only take one step at a time. We're very impressed that you can jump all the way from 3 to 7 in a single bound, but you're going to have to pull it back a skosh.) Since |-200| = 200, the absolute value of (-200) is greater than 5. As an inequality, that's |-200| > 5.

Compare 0 and n in an inequality if n is any positive number.

Either 0 < n or n > 0 will work, since all positive numbers are bigger than 0.