Solving Inequalities

An inequality is similar to an equation. There are two expressions separated by a symbol that indicates how one expression is related to the other. In an equation such as 7x = 49, the = sign indicates that the expressions are equivalent. In an inequality, such as 7x > 49, the > sign indicates that the left side is larger than the right side.

To solve the inequality 7x > 49, we follow the same rules that we did for equations. In this case, divide both sides by 7 so that x > 7. This means that x is a value and it is always larger than 7, and never equal to or less than 7.

The "less than" symbol (<) may also be seen in inequalities.