Science Memes

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Nom nom (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I had no idea that people struggled with this so much and have come up with such crazy (to me) ways of figuring it out.

Most of the world, if asked to write down numbers 1-100 on a line, would do so left to right. The < and > symbols are arrows pointing left and right. To the left the numbers decrease (less than) and to the right the numbers increase (greater than).

All this stuff about crocodiles and ducks seems like such a bizarre way to remember it!

[–] dnick 1 points 10 hours ago

Yes, but that's because that's the way your mind interpreted it, it could have just as easily thought that the arrow (little side) should point in the forward direction from left to right, so 'point to the bigger number'.

Basically two completely unrelated things both make sense to you in the same direction, and that happened to be the direction that the the people picking the symbols also picked. If they had simply picked the opposite direction, all the people who currently struggle might find out perfectly natural and be confused as to why 'you' have such a problem understanding it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 17 hours ago

A mnemonic device is a mnemonic device.

I think about how the symbols have two sides, one is a point (small side) and the other is wide (big side)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago

Your explanation is no less crazy lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I think about it the same way I think about + and -. I don't think at all. I just know.

Maybe it's because I'm a programmer and I encounter comparators more than addition and subtraction.