Lila M. answered • 08/06/24
Tutor
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M.S. in Mathematics with 4.0 GPA and 5+ Years Tutoring Experience
A negative number will always be less than a positive number, regardless of the absolute value. So, -15 is less than 10, not greater than 10.
Something that might help to remember is to picture where two numbers fall on a number line. The number further to the right is the greater number. For illustration:
<--|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-->
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
10 is further to the right (in the positive direction) than -15, so 10 > -15. However, positive 15 is further to the right than 10, and thus 10 < 15.
