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A comment on Dyslexia. Parent comment

Re:Dyslexia by hanoz on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @02:24PM (#15229961)
> I made it through an engineering degree with "the alligator eats the bigger number" mnemonics for > and <.

I don't understand this at all. The bigger number is at the bigger end, that's the whole point of the symbols. What does the alligator introduce, apart from an extra step and doubt over whether it's larger or smaller numbers they are said to eat?

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Re:Dyslexia by hackinthebochs on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @07:56PM (#15234170)
>The bigger number is at the bigger end, that's the whole point of the symbols.

It probably has to do with how it was taught. I was never taught "the bigger number is at the bigger end", it was simply "> means greater than and < means less than" and we were supposed to memorize that. The alligator mneumonic is just a way of recovering the original meaning.

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Re:Dyslexia by FungalRaincloud on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @02:26PM (#15229999)
It's memorable.
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Re:Dyslexia by hanoz on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @02:46PM (#15230312)
But how is it helpful? You need to know which is the bigger side already in order to place your alligator the right way round.
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Re:Dyslexia by brlewis on Tuesday September 12, 2017 @03:00PM (#15230555)
Reading a scene involving a predator is more firmly wired into our brains than associating a wider distance with a higher number.
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