Assignment - 02-Comparing and Ordering Integers
A quick review of the necessary symbols:
> Greater than
< Less than
= Equal
When comparing integers on a number line, the number that is farther to the right is greater. The integer that is farther to the left is less.
If we were to compare 2 and -1, the 2 is farther to the right, so 2 is larger. Also, no matter what numbers are being used, a positive number is always greater than a negative number.
If we were to compare -6 and -10, -6 is farther to the right, so -6 is larger. When comparing two negative numbers, the integer with the smaller absolute value is less (ignoring the sign, the smaller number actually has the larger value).
There is a couple of ways to think about ordering integers. First off, you could look at them on a number line. Remember the numbers further to the left are lesser, and the numbers further to the right are greater, so if we were to want to order -4, 0, and -7, your thought process might be this:
- -7 is furthest to the left, so it’s first.
- 0 is furthest to the right, so it’s last.
- -4 is in between them, so it’s in the middle.
- -7, -4, 0
Rather than drawing a number line every time, you could also just use the comparison rules. Negative are always bigger than positive, smaller negative numbers are greater than larger ones. So if I wanted to compare 0, -10, 2 and -4, my thought process might look like this:
- 2 is the only positive number, so it’s going to be largest.
- 0 will be larger than any negative numbers.a
- If you look at -4, and -10, -4 has the smaller number, so it will be larger, making -10 the smallest.
- -10, -4, 0, 2