Comparing Whole Numbers

Determine whether 394 is greater
than or less than 397.

Then write the expression that
shows this using either this

symbol or that symbol,
and this is actually

the less than symbol.

We'll think a little bit more
about how to remember that.

That is the less than symbol
and this is the

greater than symbol.

So first of all, let's
just look at the two

numbers: 394 and 397.

So let me write them down.

394 and the other
number is 397.

Now, they both have 3 hundreds,
so their hundreds

place is equivalent.

They both have 90 with that 9
there, but this is 300 plus 90

plus 4 and this is 300
plus 90 plus 7.

And we know that 4
is less than 7.

If you look on a number line,
4 comes before 7.

If you're counting the 7, you're
going to pass up 4, so

394 is less than 397.

And the way that we write that,
we would just write 394

is less than 397.

And the way I remember that this
means less than is that

the smaller number is on the
side that has kind of a

smaller side.

You can imagine this side
is much smaller than

this side over here.

We could also write
it the other way.

We could write 397 is
greater than 394.

And once again, the bigger
number is the side that this

little thing is opening onto
or the side that has the

bigger side of this
symbol right here.

This point is the
smaller side.

This out here is the
bigger side.

That's where you put
the larger number.

Greater than, less than.