< > ???

       I've been unable to remember . . . until now . . . the meaning of two mathematical symbols I did not grow up with but which are commonly used, especially in my medical lab reports from Kaiser:

                                              >  and  <

The two mean "less than" and "more than," but I can never remember which, and end up confused, not knowing whether my numbers are within or outside of a healthy range for a given test.

       I asked for assistance online, and one mnemonic device worked best for me, maybe because it had to do with letters rather than numbers:  one of the two symbols easily reshapes into the letter "L" for "less than," and the other doesn't!  Instant communication as far as I am concerned.

       I'm not sure, but I think the person who came up with that was a grade schooler.  Naturally.

       Math is a language too, of course, just not the one I'm most comfortable with.