Hacker News Reader

> I made it through an engineering degree with "the alligator eats the bigger number" mnemonics for > and <.

I don't understand this at all. The bigger number is at the bigger end, that's the whole point of the symbols. What does the alligator introduce, apart from an extra step and doubt over whether it's larger or smaller numbers they are said to eat?

View on HN

>The bigger number is at the bigger end, that's the whole point of the symbols.

It probably has to do with how it was taught. I was never taught "the bigger number is at the bigger end", it was simply "> means greater than and < means less than" and we were supposed to memorize that. The alligator mneumonic is just a way of recovering the original meaning.

It's memorable.

But how is it helpful? You need to know which is the bigger side already in order to place your alligator the right way round.

Reading a scene involving a predator is more firmly wired into our brains than associating a wider distance with a higher number.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com