this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2024
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I've always been a fan of using > and < but in the general use of lesser than or greater than, however, the symbols were always interchangeable to me since it always depends on where you put the defined integer, correct?
If I want to say something is less than 37. It can either be 37 > or < 37.
Because in that scenario the imaginary integer n is always on the opposite side of the symbol.
37 > n
n < 37
So why did > ever become greater and < be less than? Doesn't it also depend on how your text is written? If people reading from right to left or down to up vs left to right and up to down, means it's reversed.
The open part of the caret is where the bigger number is, the opposite side is where the lesser number is.
"37 is greater than n."
"n is less than 37."
Obviously both sentences have the same meaning, but the symbols are named that way because people usually read left to right... (in English that is)
Yes.
>is "greater than" because you're reading left-to-right. 12 > 9, read: "twelve is greater than nine". When reading in a right-to-left script, it's the opposite, but because of how the BiDi spec works, the same Unicode character is actually used for the same semantic meaning, rather than the appearance. Taking the exact same block of text but formatting it right-to-left (using directional isolate characters) yields "12 > 9", which is still read as a "greater than", just from right-to-left.Hopefully that makes sense.
So yes, if you copy the
>character and paste in any directional environment, it will retain its meaning of "greater than".Edit: on my phone, the RTL portion is not formatted well. If you can’t see it, try a browser.
Neat AF.
You just blew my mind with that unicode trivia. Super cool !