Inequality

An inequality is a mathematical expression concerning the relative size of two terms.

These come in five kinds;

* An expression in which the left hand side is strictly greater than the right, denoted:
* An expression in which the left hand side is greater than or equal than the right, denoted:
* An expression in which the left hand side is strictly less than the right, denoted:
* An expression in which the left hand side is greater than or equal than the right, denoted:
* An expression in which the left hand side is not equal to the right, but no further information is implied, denoted:

For example, 4 is greater than 3, so either;

4>3

3<4

are true statements.

The inequalities are widely used in more advanced mathematics for example the cosine function is always between -1 and 1 inclusive so you can write:

This gives the function's bounds. '' means that the preceding inequality is true for all real values of .

## See also[edit]

* Equation