An inequality is a relation that holds between two values when they are different. The following symbols are used to denote inequality:
< is less than
> is greater than
is less than or equal to (in Maple this is denoted as <=)
is greater than or equal to (in Maple this is denoted as >=)
≠ is not equal to (in Maple this is denoted as <>)
For example, for two values, a and b, when a is less than b, this is denoted as a < b.
A linear inequality is an inequality (containing at least one of the symbols above) in which all of its variables have exponent 1.
For example, is a linear inequality because x and y have exponents 1.
However, is not a linear inequality because x has exponent 2.