Greater Than, Less Than

This is Mr. Alligator. He is hungry all the time. The only thing he likes to eat is numbers. Not only is he a hungry alligator, he is greedy. He only eats the biggest numbers.

When you look at the following numbers, think of which direction Mr. Alligator's mouth will go. Remember, he only eats the biggest numbers. 

If the biggest number is on the left, Mr. Alligator's mouth will open toward the left, and you will use the "greater than" symbol. A symbol is something that stands for something else. It looks like this: >. If the biggest number is on the right, Mr. Alligator's mouth will open toward the right, and you will use the "less than" symbol. It looks like this: <.

Compare these numbers. 10    3 Which number is greater? Is it 10 or 3? 10 Since 10 is greater than 3, Mr. Alligator eats the number 10. His mouth opens toward 10. It looks like this: 10 3 Instead of using Mr. Alligator's mouth, we use the "greater than" symbol. The line below is read "10 is greater than 3." 10 > 3 Compare these numbers. 2    8 Which number is greater? Is it 2 or 8? 8 Since 8 is greater than 2, Mr. Alligator eats the number 8. It looks like this: 2 8 This time, we'll replace Mr. Alligator's mouth with the "less than" symbol. The line below is read "2 is less than 8."  2 < 8