Question

Mr. Bond wrote the inequality –46 < –34. Write a sentence about a real-life situation that compares the values from his inequality.

Answer 1

We have the inequality:

-46 < -34

This naturally happens because -46 is at the left of -34 in the number line, meaning that -46 is smaller than -34.

An example to see this is suppose that these numbers represent money.

Because the numbers are negative, then these represent money you owe.

-46 means that you owe $46

-34 means that you owe $34

Then if we are counting the money you have, owing $34 means that your money is larger than if you owe $46.

Another example is if these numbers represent distance under the surface of the water.

-46 means that you are 46 ft under the surface of the water

-34 means that you are 34 ft under the surface of the water.

Clearly, in the second case your altitude is higher than in the first one, so again, the inequality is true.