Question

Shane is shipping some shelves he built. The function f(x) gives the number of shipping boxes he needs to ship x shelves.
What does f(3) ‹ 4 tell you?
Shane needs fewer than 4 boxes if he is shipping 3 shelves.
Shane needs fewer boxes to ship 3 shelves than to ship 4 shelves.

Answer 1

The first statement is correct. f(3) < 4 means the number of boxes needed for 3 shelves is less than 4.

The second statement is not implied. f(3) < 4 does not compare f(3) to f(4). For example, you could have f(3)=3 and f(4)=2, which satisfies f(3)<4 but not f(3)<f(4).