Less-than sign

The less-than sign is a mathematical symbol that denotes an inequality between two values. The widely adopted form of two equal-length strokes connecting in an acute angle at the left, , has been found in documents dated as far back as the 1560s. In mathematical writing, the less-than sign is typically placed between two values being compared and signifies that the first number is less than the second number. Examples of typical usage include < 1 and −2 < 0. Since the development of computer programming languages, the less-than sign and the greater-than sign have been repurposed for a range of uses and operations. The less-than sign, , is an original ASCII character (hex 3C, decimal 60). The less-than sign may be used for an approximation of the opening angle bracket, . ASCII does not have angle brackets but are standard in Unicode (). The latter is expected in formal texts. In BASIC, Lisp-family languages, and C-family languages (including Java and C++), comparison operator < means "less than". In Coldfusion, operator .lt. means "less than". In Fortran, operator .LT. means "less than"; later versions allow