Quandaries and Queries
  


How do you use inequalities in your job and in your everyday life?

Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

My name is Michael and I am in ninth grade.
I am a student.



Hi Michael,

I am a mathematician and I quite often use inequalities in my job. Sometimes I teach calculus and inequalities are very important in calculus. Just this morning I answered a question from a student in calculus. The answer came down to this.

There are two points on the number line, both to the right of zero, call them A and B. These two points are moving and I know that
  1. The point B is approaching zero.
  2. The point A is always between B and zero
Said in terms of inequalities 0 < A < B The conclusion is that A is also approaching zero since it is squeezed between 0 and B. This is my everyday life.

By everyday life I expect that you mean outside of my job. Inequalities in mathematics result, in large part, from an attempt to take real physical situations and construct a mathematical model. The rules we use for inequalities come from these situations. For example

Mary is taller than Ted and Ted is taller than Bob, so Mary is taller than Bob.

If M > T and T > B then M > B. or Tom has more money than Fred. They both double their money. Tom still has more money than Fred

If T > F then 2T > 2F.

Penny


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