How would you graph the inequality x > -4?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2015

It depends on where you want to solve it.

If you're using real numbers, then x> -4 explains itself pretty clearly: you must consider all the numbers greater than -4.

If you're solving it on the plan, you'll notice that you have no conditions on the y coordinate. So, any point of the plain whose x coordinate is greater than -4 is a solution, no matter which value its y coordinate has.

For example, take the value 3. It is greater than -4, so every point in the plan with x coordinate equal to 3 is solving the equation. But all the points of the form (3, y) form the vertical line passing through (3,0).

I hope that it is clear at this time that the solution of x> -4, if interpreted in the plan, is the part of the plan "at the right" of the vertical line x= -4, as shown in the plot:

graph{x> -4 [-4.854, 5.146, -2.02, 2.98]}