The
less-than sign is a sign of
inequality. The less-than symbol is used in various operations that usually pertain to work being worse mathematically or with a programming language. The symbol looks similar to a sideways "V" and is generally used to show inequality between two numbers or expressions. In mathematics, if there are two expressions being compared as an inequality, the less-than symbol usually goes between the two and symbolizes that the first number is less than the second number, for example
2<4 or
x<102. The symbol can also be used to the left of a single number to denote the concept of any lesser number, for example "less than 4" would be written as
<4. There are other combinations of the less-than symbol and the 'equals' symbol and multiple less-than symbols which are also used mathematically and computationally.