Final answer:
The '≤' (less than or equal to) symbol is used in mathematics to compare two values, indicating that one value is either less than or equal to another. Inequality symbols are essential in algebra to express such relationships between measurements.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ≤ (less than or equal to) symbol is used for determining whether or not a value is less than or equal to a specified search condition. In mathematics, inequality symbols are fundamental tools to compare the size of two values.
Here is an example: If we want to compare the length of two strings, and we know that string A is 5 meters long, and we want to express that string B is not longer than string A, we would write this as B ≤ 5 meters, where B represents the length of string B. This inequality indicates that string B could be exactly 5 meters long or any length shorter than that.
Inequality symbols like ≤ are commonly used in mathematical equations and expressions to define the relationships between different metric measurements and are an important concept in algebra and other areas of mathematics.