Once we know which number is bigger or smaller, we can write it down with three little signs:

> means greater than, < means less than, and = means equal to. The pointed signs > and < are like a hungry mouth: it always opens toward the bigger number — the mouth eats the bigger one — and the pointy end touches the smaller one.

The real skill is reading the symbol out loud, left to right. We read 7 > 3 as “seven is greater than three”, and we read 3 < 7 as “three is less than seven”. Notice these say the same fact two ways — seven really is the bigger number either way.

When the two numbers are the same we use =: 5 = 5 reads “five is equal to five”.

Press play. Two numbers appear, the correct symbol grows between them with its mouth turning toward the larger number, and we read the whole sentence aloud. Replay it: each time the numbers change, so the symbol may flip — and sometimes they are equal.

Khan Academy explains the greater-than and less-than symbols here: