Imagine you are offered to choose between two gift bags. One bag contains 5 toys, while the second bag contains 8 toys. Which one would you like to take? Of course, you will choose the bag that contains more toys! How to find which bag contains more toys? Start counting from 1. As 5 comes before 8 therefore 5 is less than 8 or in other words, 8 is greater than 5.
Three symbols are used to compare quantities, they are < , > , =
1. Less than
2. Greater than
3. Equal to
When quantities are the same we say they are equal. For example, you have 4 pencils in your bag. Your friend is also carrying 4 pencils in his bag. You and your friend are carrying equal quantities or numbers of pencils i.e. 4 = 4
Below picture shows two groups of blocks:
We need to compare these groups of blocks. First count how many are there in each group. The left group has 4 blocks and the right group has 10 blocks. We need to use a symbol that shows a comparison between these two groups. The open end of the symbol > always faces the bigger number hence we write 10 > 4(10 is greater than 4) or use less than symbol as 4 < 10 (4 less than 10).
One easy way to remember these symbols is, to think of them as a 'hungry alligator mouth' that always wants to eat the biggest amount. So the open side of > always faces toward the bigger number.
Here 10 is a larger number so the mouth opens towards the bigger number which is 10.
we can either say 4 is less than 10(4 < 10) or 10 is greater than 4(10 > 4).
Let's now compare bigger numbers like 477 and 455. Write both the number one below the other arranging digits according to place value -
| Hundreds | Tens | Ones |
| 4 | 7 | 7 |
| 4 | 5 | 5 |
Compare them using place value. We start with the biggest value digit first. Both numbers have 400 in the hundreds place, so hundreds are the same. Let's move to the tens place. 477 has 7 tens and 455 has 5 tens. As 70 is greater than 50 (70 > 50), we can infer that 477 is greater than 455. i.e. 477 > 455.
Important: Before comparing quantities check if the comparable quantities have the same unit. For example, which is a bigger amount, 50 cents or 25 dollars? If we neglect the unit here, our answer will be wrong. Number 50 is greater than 25 but notice the unit. Cent is a smaller unit than a dollar and 100 cents equals one dollar. Therefore 50 cents < 25 dollars. How to solve this kind of problem?
Make units of both the quantities the same and then compare the numbers. Here it is 50 cents and 2500 cents. As 2500 > 50 therefore 25 dollars > 50 cents.
