The process of expressing a relationship between quantities where one is not strictly equal to another requires the use of mathematical inequalities. This involves converting a verbal or written statement into a symbolic representation that reflects a range of possible values. For instance, the phrase “a number is greater than five” becomes “x > 5,” where ‘x’ represents the unspecified number.
This form of mathematical expression is crucial in a variety of disciplines. It allows for the modeling of constraints and boundaries within optimization problems, statistical analysis, and economic forecasting. Historically, the development of inequality notation provided a more nuanced way to describe relationships compared to simple equations, enabling the formulation of more realistic and complex models.
