

It is used for sequentially composing two actions, discarding any value produced by the first. In Haskell, the > function is a monadic operator. In C++ it is also used to get input from a stream, similar to the C functions getchar and fgets. In Java, C, and C++, the operator > is the right-shift operator.

The double greater-than sign is also used for an approximation of the closing guillemet, ». ASCII does not have the much greater-than sign. The double greater-than sign, >, is used for an approximation of the much-greater-than sign ≫. The greater-than sign may be included with >, while ≥ produces the greater-than or equal to sign. In HTML (and SGML and XML), the greater-than sign is used at the end of tags. The proper Unicode character is U+232A 〉 RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET. The greater-than sign is sometimes used for an approximation of the closing angle bracket, ⟩. Johnson says it is likely Harriot developed the two symbols from this symbol. The text states " Signum majoritatis ut a > b significet a majorem quam b (The sign of majority a > b indicates that a is greater than b)" and " Signum minoritatis ut a < b significet a minorem quam b (The sign of minority a < b indicates that a is less than b)."Īccording to historian Art Johnson, while Harriot was surveying North America, he saw a Native American with a symbol that resembled the greater-than sign, in both backwards and forwards forms. The earliest known use of the symbols is found in Artis Analyticae Praxis ad Aequationes Algebraicas Resolvendas ( The Analytical Arts Applied to Solving Algebraic Equations) by Thomas Harriot, published posthumously in 1631. Since the development of computer programming languages, the greater-than sign and the less-than sign have been repurposed for a range of uses and operations. The less-than sign and greater-than sign always "point" to the smaller number. Examples of typical usage include 1.5 > 1 and 1 > −2. In mathematical writing, the greater-than sign is typically placed between two values being compared and signifies that the first number is greater than the second number. The widely adopted form of two equal-length strokes connecting in an acute angle at the right, >, has been found in documents dated as far back as 1631.

The greater-than sign is a mathematical symbol that denotes an inequality between two values. U+2A7E ⩾ GREATER-THAN OR SLANTED EQUAL TO
