Manhattan Prep Algebra, 3rd ed,chapter 4, page 90

[siddharth41089]

I am not able to understand the table on page 90. Can someone please help me with it.

In the m-n column:
1st row: (-4)-GT(-3)=LT(-1)... Why does the GT gets converted into LT?
2nd row:(-4)-LT(10)=GT(-14)...Why does the LT gets converted into GT?
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[tommywallach]

Hey Siddharth,

Just try looking at it with real numbers:

In the m-n column:
1st row: (-4)-GT(-3)=LT(-1)... Why does the GT gets converted into LT?

(-4) - (-2.999) = (-1.11111)
(-4) - (5) = (-9)

See what happens? The answer has to be LESS than -1 (because we're subtracting...if you subtract something big, you end up with something small, hence the switch from GT to LT).

2nd row:(-4)-LT(10)=GT(-14)...Why does the LT get converted into GT?

(-4) - (9.99999) = (-13.99999)
(-4) - (-5) = 1

Once again, you'll see how the real numbers bear out the rule. Whenever you're confused about something like this, try out some numbers and see if you can work out what's going on that way.

Good luck!

-t