People make comparisons all the time. Have you ever pointed out that you were older or younger than someone? Or that you can run faster? Or that you did better or worse on an exam? If so, you were making a comparison.
We work with comparisons in math, too. When you look at a comparison word problem, you need to figure out which person has the greatest number and which person has the lesser number. Use clue words in the sentence to help you, such as "more," "better," "bigger," "faster," "higher," and so on.
Let's look at an example: Weston jumps higher than Tonya.
Which person has the greater (larger) number? Weston jumps higher, so he has the greater number. Tonya has the lesser (smaller) number.
Here's another example: Weston is shorter than Tonya.
Which person has the greatest number? This time, Tonya has the greatest number. She is taller than Weston.
Figuring out the greatest number and the lesser number in this comparison problem will help us create a number family. We can use the variable (letter) W to stand for Weston's height and the variable T to stand for Tonya's height. We don't yet have enough information to solve the problem, but it's a start.
