Less Than Or Equal To - Sign, Meaning, Symbol, Examples - Cuemath

Less Than or Equal To

Less than or equal to relation is one of the inequalities used to represent the relation between two numbers or two mathematical expressions. We know that the 'less than' symbol is used to show that one quantity is lesser than the other quantity, and the 'is equal to' symbol is used to show that two quantities are equal. Similarly, there is a symbol of less than or equal to in math which is used to show that one quantity can be less than the other quantity or equal to the other quantity.

1.	What is Less Than or Equal To?
2.	Less Than or Equal to Symbol in Words
3.	Less Than or Equal to Meaning
4.	Less Than or Equal to on a Number Line
5.	FAQs on Less Than or Equal to

What is Less Than or Equal To?

'Less than or equal to', as the name suggests, means a variable is either less than or equal to another number, variable, or quantity. 'Less than or equal to' is used to represent the following phrases while solving math problems:

• at most
• no more than
• a maximum of
• not exceeding

Less than or equal to is represented by the sign "≤". Observe the following figure to see the symbol that shows a 'less than' sign with a sleeping line under it.

Less Than or Equal To Symbol

Less than or equal to is represented by the symbol "≤". Let us understand the usage of this symbol with an example. James works at a departmental store, and he is paid on an hourly basis. He can work for a maximum of 8 hours per day. Do you know what’s meant by the term maximum, here? This means James can work for either less than or equal to 8 hours per day in the store. Let us represent the number of hours James worked as x hours. Then we can write the given example mathematically as, x ≤ 8.

Less Than or Equal To and Greater Than or Equal To

An inequality symbol that is similar to "less than or equal to" is "greater than or equal to". It is represented by the symbol '≥'. We come across certain statements involving the signs '≤' and '≥' which are called inequalities. Both inequality signs have different meanings. We can easily understand them by comparison. Here are some comparisons of these symbols and their examples along with their meanings.

	Less Than or Equal To	Greater Than or Equal To
Definition	A comparison that is true when the value on the left is less than or equal to the value on the right.	A comparison that is true when the value on the left is greater than or equal to the value on the right.
Example 1:	x ≤ 7 means the value of x is less than or equal to 7.	x ≥ 2 means the value of x is greater than or equal to 2.
Example 2:	− 5 ≤ x ≤ 3 means the value of x should lie between − 5 and 3, inclusive of both values.	2 ≥ x ≥ − 1 means the value of x should lie between − 1 and 2, inclusive of both values.

Less Than or Equal to on a Number Line

Inequalities like less than or equal to and greater than or equal to are represented in a different way on a number line. To denote these, we use the closed circle to mark the limit value and point the arrow (either to the left side or to the right side of the limit value) towards the given condition of inequality. Let us see this on a number line given below:

Here, the closed circles in both figures represent that "x can be equal to the limiting value also".

We can see that when we want to denote 'x less than or equal to - 5', we marked a circle at - 5 and pointed an arrow towards the values less than - 5, as suggested in the condition of inequality. Similarly, when we want to denote 'x greater than or equal to - 2', we marked a circle at - 2 and pointed an arrow towards the values greater than - 2, as suggested in the condition of inequality.

☛Related Topics:

• Greater than Less than Calculator
• Greater Than Calculator
• How To Make a Greater Than or Equal to Sign

Important Notes on Less Than or Equal To:

• Same numbers can either be added or subtracted on both sides of an inequality without changing the sign of inequality.
• Same positive numbers can either be multiplied or divided into both sides of an inequality without changing the sign of inequality.
• Same negative numbers can either be multiplied or divided on both sides of an inequality and the sign of inequality gets reversed.