an inequality literally means that something is not equal, for example, if you wrote 5 = 6, you would be wrong, because 5 and 6 are not the same number. however, if you wrote 5 < 6, this is correct, ad this symbol means 'less than'. think of the symbol as a crocodile's mouth and it always wants to eat the biggest number, and then you know which of the two signs (< or >) to use.