# Is there an easy way to remember what '\<' and '\>' mean in maths? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360 "2013-10-27T08:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/141 "2013-11-03T00:58:19Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I’m imagining a 3rd grade teacher writing \or on the chalk board and explaining it to her class that way. The kids are all WTF?. 🙂 … i wasn’t answering the OP, just riffing on the two previous posts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gateway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dbc845/32.png) [@Gateway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gateway)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/142 "2013-11-03T02:41:22Z")
I did not go through the answers but if it was not said: Think of the \> as the mouth of an alligator. The alligator always eats the bigger number. Hope this helps 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/143 "2013-11-03T03:04:48Z")
Hee hee! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/144 "2013-11-03T04:16:48Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > One mnemonic I refuse to surrender is this: > > Now I - even I - would celebrate > In rhymes unapt the great > \< . . . \> > > which wretched piece of doggerel has stuck with me for even more years than the number of digits of p that it ciphers. Ninja’ed! I was thinking of posting that too! It’s so useful to know, any time you need to figure how many gallons of paint you need to paint a cylindrical water tank! 🙂 IIRC, I learned it from one of Martin Gardner’s books, way back when. But the final phrase “. . . how to circles mensurate” is weird. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/145 "2013-11-03T08:51:43Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Ninja’ed! I was thinking of posting that too! It’s so useful to know, any time you need to figure how many gallons of paint you need to paint a cylindrical water tank! 🙂 > > IIRC, I learned it from one of Martin Gardner’s books, way back when. > > But the final phrase “. . . how to circles mensurate” is weird. Water tank nothing - p to 30 places means, if you know the diameter of our galaxy accurately, you can calculate its circumference (a third of a million light-years, give or take) accurate to less than 1% of the wavelength of light: Milky Way diameter: 10[sup]5[/sup] ly 1 light-year: 10 million million km = 10[sup]16[/sup] m = 10[sup]25[/sup] nm Milky Way diameter in nanometres: 10[sup]30[/sup] Wavelength of light: 400 - 700 nm 😃 The phrasing’s odd, but “mensurate” means “measure” more or less, and “how to mensurate circles” would (a) not rhyme and (b) give the wrong answer (and hence completely ruin your calculations). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/146 "2013-11-03T23:47:02Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Water tank nothing - p to 30 places means, > > \< . . . \> > > The phrasing’s odd, but “mensurate” means “measure” more or less, and “how to mensurate circles” would (a) not rhyme and (b) give the wrong answer (and hence completely ruin your calculations). Spock: “To paint your water tank will require _approximately_ 23.475636587687694635485996947 gallons of liquid pigment mixture.” Besides the weird word order, “how to circles mensurate” sounds like they’re talking about the monthly reproductive “cycle” (get it?) of geometric objects. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360/147 "2013-11-04T02:33:35Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Spock: “To paint your water tank will require _approximately_ 23.475636587687694635485996947 gallons of liquid pigment mixture.” Fascinating. I assume you’re taking into account the thickness of the layer of paint, and the deviation from perfect circularity of the shape of the tank? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-easy-way-to-remember-what-and-mean-in-maths/672360.md?page=7)