52 MATHEMATICS than the other. Thus, given any two numbers, a and 6, one of the following must be true: ab ‘To say that a first number is greater than a second implies that a positive number must be added to the second number to make the sum equal the first number. For example, 5 > 2 implies that a posi- tive number must be added to 2 to make a sum equal to 5. In gen- eral: a > bimplies that a = b +e, where c > 0. a < bimplies that a + ¢ = b, where c > 0. The last statement says that “a less than b” implies that a positive number (c > 0) must be added to a to make the sum equal b. It is a consequence of the order property of the real numbers that —5 < —2and 0 > —1. That is, inasmuch as the positive num- ber 3 must be added to —5 to make the sum equal —2, —5 is less than —2. Again, inasmuch as the positive number 1 must be added to —1 to make the sum 0, 0 is greater than —1. The ordering of numbers can be remembered easily by refer- ence to Figure 3-1. If the number a is to the left of the number b, +45 FIG. 31 then a b. We see that —1 < 0,0<1,-2>-—3,2>-1. The direction in which an inequality symbol points is referred to as its sense, the particular use of the word being in phrases which describe inequalities as being of the same sense or of opposite sense. Thus, 2 <3 andz < —lare of the same sense, andz < 5andz > 8 are of opposite sense. FUNDAMENTAL OPERATIONS ON INEQUALITIES Tf both sides of an inequality are multiplied or divided by the same negative number, the sense of the inequality must be changed. For example, the true statement 2 < 3 can be multiplied by, say, —4 to yield —8 > —12. Again, if both sides of the true statement —4 < —2 are divided by —2, we obtain 2 > 1. It is clear that the same number may be added to or subtracted oogle iSYSTEMS OF LINEAR INEQUALITIES 53 from both sides of an inequality, and that both sides of an inequality may be multiplied or divided by the same positive number, without changing the sense. For example, if we add 2 to both sides of —7 < —5 we obtain —5 < —3. Subtracting 1 from both sides of the last inequality yields —6 < —4, Multiplying both sides of the last inequality by 5 yields —30 < —20. Dividing both sides of the last inequality by 10 yields —3 < —2. SOLVING SINGLE INEQUALITIES ‘A single inequality in one variable is solved in the usual alge- braic manner, except that the sense must be changed if the inequal- ity is multiplied or divided by a negative number. Starting with 2x +3 <7 we may subtract 3 from both sides to obtain 2z < 4, and then divide both sides by 2 to yield the solution x < 2. Thus the original inequality is satisfied by any number less than 2. For example, if we select a number less than 2, say 1.9, and substitute it into the original inequality, we obtain the true statement 6.8 < 7. ‘As another example, starting with 3—2z > 5 we may subtract 3 from both sides to obtain —2x > 2, and then divide both sides by —2, changing the sense to yield z < —1. ‘A single equation in two-space has a straight line as its geo- metric representation. A single inequality, on the other hand, is represented by all points on one side of a line, the line itself being included if the equality and inequality signs appear together. If we think of a straight line as dividing a plane in half, we may say that the solutions of an inequality in two-space consist of all points in a half space. Consider the inequality Qe + 3y <6 If we solve for x in the usual manner, we find 6 —3y 2 ‘The points which satisfy the equality part of the statement lie on a line. The points which satisfy the inequality part of the statement must lie to the left of the line because the inequality reads “x less than.” If we had solved for y, the outeome would have been zs 6-2 3 which says that the points satisfying the inequality lie below the line, Figure 3-2 is the graph of the inequality. It consists of the line Qe + By = 6 vs Go: gle wuenenrae