31.5k views
18 votes
When solving inequalities, how do you know when to change the inequality symbol?

1 Answer

5 votes

When you divide or multiply by a negative number, you must change the direction of the inequality sign. This is because of this rule of inequalities: As you can see, x is originally less than y. But, when it’s multiplied by a negative number, x becomes greater than y. That’s because smaller negative numbers are closer to 0, making them worth more.

User Millimoose
by
6.0k points