Comparing numbers to 100 — introduction

In 1st grade you compared numbers up to 20. In 2nd grade you go further — up to the numbers to 100. The idea is the same; the numbers are just bigger.

What does it mean to compare two numbers

Comparing means saying which of two numbers is bigger and which is smaller — or whether they are the same size.

Picture two baskets of apples:

One has 45 apples.
The other has 38 apples.

Two baskets of apples — left one fuller, right one less full

Which basket has more apples? The one with 45. We say that 45 is greater than 38.

Three signs we use

We write comparisons with three signs:

> means "greater than"
< means "less than"
= means "equal to"

We write them like this:

45 > 38 — we read: "forty-five is greater than thirty-eight"
38 < 45 — we read: "thirty-eight is less than forty-five"
50 = 50 — we read: "fifty is equal to fifty"

A trick to remember the sign

The signs < and > always point with the open side at the bigger number and with the tip at the smaller. Some children think of it as a crocodile opening its mouth — and the crocodile always wants to eat the bigger number.

Friendly crocodile with its mouth open toward the larger number

How we will compare

In the next articles we show how to compare even tricky pairs — for example 47 and 74, or 63 and 68. We will learn that we look at the tens first and only then at the ones.

Summary

Comparing tells us which number is bigger.
We use three signs: >, <, and =.
The open side of the sign always points to the bigger number.