What is the general term for "greater than or equal to" and "less than or equal to"?

Question

We call this equation:

A = B

We call this inequality:

A > B
A < B

What do we call this:

A ≥ B
A ≤ B

?

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 01 '15 at 09:48

8

The first is "strict inequality" - greater than or less than.

The second is just called "inequality" - greater than or equal to or less than or equal to.

The reason being that A > B implies that A must be greater than B: there is no alternative to this statement. It is strict.

However, A >= B means that A could be greater than B, but it could also be equal. It is less strict, but we just call it "inequality", not unstrict inequality.

answered Feb 01 '15 at 09:48

OK, so I was wrong thinking that the second one (with > and <) was called inequality...? – barak manos Feb 01 '15 at 09:59
2

@barakmanos Not at all: > and < are still inequalities, but if you want to differentiate them from ≥ and ≤, you would call them "strict inequalities". Calling them inequalities on their own is still fine. :) – Feb 01 '15 at 10:02
@donaldacmartin. I think you are using "first" to mean "second" and "second" to mean "third". – fdb Feb 01 '15 at 11:59
All inequalities are not created equal. – Hot Licks Feb 01 '15 at 23:11
@HotLicks All inequalities are created equal, sum is just more equal than others... – CJ Dennis Feb 26 '15 at 11:31
For the third case, if I call it an equation, is that wrong? – 0x5050 Jul 27 '18 at 09:54
Why greater or equal implies that A is less than B? – ado sar May 22 '20 at 23:19

What is the general term for "greater than or equal to" and "less than or equal to"?

1 Answers1