> fewer than or less than?

[witchwithallthetrimmings]

what do you think?

Fewer... I think.

every maths teacher less less than though but it has to be wrong because less than implies (I think) a smaller absolute value while fewer would make sense with negative numbers

It depends what you are talking about.

Depends what you're talking about, and how it is measured.

okay give me an example where it would be correct to say less than?

I would call that a 'greater than' sign.

X > Y

X is greater than Y

< this one is a 'less than' sign

I like Trillian less than witchwithallthetrimmings

Fewer is for countable objects, that's the way I was taught.

So you could have less rice, or fewer grains of rice (or fewer spoonfuls of rice).

Fewer than 10 items in the fast queue, or less shopping than the person with a trolley-full.

"Fewer should be used when you are talking about items that can be counted individually, for example, "fewer than 10 apples". Less is correct when quantities cannot be individually counted in that case, e.g. "I would like less water".

But it can be tricky when referring to quantities, says Marie Clair from the Plain English Campaign. For example, we say less than six weeks, not fewer than six weeks, because we are not referring to six individual weeks, but to a single period of time lasting six weeks."

D'you know what? I just realised that you meant 'what does this symbol mean?' I is fick, so don't listen to me

PS would always say the symbol is 'less than'

okay then what about negative numbers. Is minus one less than plus one? I don't think so

The sign in the title is a greater than sign. The opposite sign < means less than.

If you are using less/fewer in conversation, then the rule goes like this. If it's something countable (e.g. dogs, pebbles, oranges) then it's fewer than. If it's something not countable (e.g. water, sugar, time) then it's less than.

So you would say "There are fewer oranges in the bowl today than there were yesterday." But you would say "There is less water in the jug than there was an hour ago."

Hope this helps.

It is fewer.

I am no expert but I do remember several debates surrounding the "10 items or less" aisle in Tesco being gramatically incorrect.

The symbol is greater than, not less than. It's backwards!

same arguement implies trillian. Is infinity greater than minus infinity?

I think that's a philosophical question witchwithallthetrimmings. Two things of the same magnitude but different polarities, that sort of thing.

If we're looking at Maths up to secondary school level then yes, +anything is greater than -anything. If I have £100 and you owe the bank £100 (so you have -£100) then I have more money than you.

I always think of the symbol with the bigger side to the bigger number/quantity. eg

4 > 3 (four is greater than three)

1 < 10 (one is less than ten)

in that case wouldn't you say more than and fewer than not greater and less

Cor - that's a bit, like, deep for this early in the morning, Trillian.

Lesser than.

I would say greater and less for numbers because numbers are not just countable integers.

4.5 > 3.7 (four point five in greater than three point seven)

1 1/2 < 10 3/4 (one and a half is less than ten and three quarters)

Oh, and -1 is less than +1, IMO.

I think the 'polarity' argument is slightly misleading, especially as regards the Tesco queue.....

less sugar

fewer grains of sugar

less is used where much is used

fewer is used where many is used

that mathematical symbol signifies "greater than"

< is the symbol that means "less than"

It is never referred to as "fewer than"