Question

How can you compare and order integers? Provide an example

Answer 1

You can both compare and order integers by subtracting them:

• If the difference is zero, as the name suggests...there's no difference! So, the integers are the same. For example, you have $3-3=0,\ 6-6=0,\ -17-(-17)=0$
• If the difference is positive, then the first integer is bigger than the second. For example: $5-2=3>0,\ 18-(-2)=20>0,\ -3-(-10)=7>0$ and we deduce that 5 is greater than 2, 18 is greater than -2 and -3 is greater than -10
• If the difference is negative, then the first integer is less than the first. For example, if we invert the previous differences, we have $2-5=-3<0,\ -2-18=-20<0,\ -10-(-3)=-7<0$ and we deduce that 2 is less than 5, -2 is less than 18 and than -10 is less than -3