are several different notations used to represent different kinds of inequalities:
* The notation a < b means that a is less than b.
* The notation a > b means that a is greater than b.In either case, a is not equal to b. These relations are known as strict inequalities, meaning that a is strictly less than or strictly greater than b. Equality is excluded.

In contrast to strict inequalities, there are two types of inequality relations that are not strict:
* The notation a <= b or a ? b or a ? b means that a is less than or equal to b (or, equivalently, at most b).
* The notation a >= b or a ? b or a ? b means that a is greater than or equal to b (or, equivalently, at least b).