ShmoopTube

00:00

Inequalities, a la Shmoop. Welcome to Planet Frisbee, which happens to

00:13

be home to the Shmooples. They're a fun loving bunch...

00:18

...always bouncing around town... ... feasting on Starbursts.

00:23

Not the Starbursts you know and love. These Starbursts are a delicacy from some...other

00:29

planet. The Shmooples have a strict hierarchy.

00:35

The more arms a Shmoople has, the better he is.

00:39

So, on Planet Frisbee, having 4 arms is greater than having 3 arms.

00:44

And having 20 arms is much greater than having 4 arms.

00:48

Mathematically, it would look something like: "20 arms is greater than 4 arms is greater

00:53

than 3 arms" Right when you think you've got a handle on

00:58

the variables, on the equations, on algebra in general...

01:01

... they go and do something to confuse you. They throw an inequality into the mix.

01:07

Don't worry; we've got you covered. Imagine that instead of talking about arms...

01:13

...we're talking about Starbursts. It's a well-known fact that Shmooples would

01:19

rather eat 20 Starbursts than 4 of them. Pretty much the same story with our Earthly

01:24

Starbursts. So the inequality "mouth" is open towards

01:30

the number 20. Here we would say:

01:34

"4 starbursts is less than 20 starbursts." May not be proper English, but we're in Mathland

01:39

now, so... sue us. Oh, and one more thing. The whole thing can

01:44

be flipped around and still be correct. We can do the same with "number of arms."

01:59

Or we can just use numbers. Although we don't necessarily agree with classifying

02:06

Shmoople by arm number... ... we do agree with their belief that the

02:11

red Starbursts are greater than all other colors.

02:14

Some things simply transcend culture.

Full Transcript