What the greater than symbol means
The greater than sign > says the value on the left is bigger than the value on the right. 8 > 5 reads "8 is greater than 5", and x > 0 means x is any positive number. Zero itself does not count, because > is a strict inequality.
With negative numbers, think of the number line: −2 > −5 because −2 sits further to the right, closer to zero. In word problems, "more than", "above", "over" and "exceeds" usually translate to >.
The same fact can be written the other way around with the less than sign: 8 > 5 and 5 < 8 are identical statements. Both signs first appeared in print in 1631, in a book by the English mathematician Thomas Harriot.
How to remember > vs <
The wide, open side always faces the bigger number, and the point aims at the smaller one. Picture an alligator: it opens its mouth toward the larger meal, so in 10 > 2 the mouth faces 10.
You can also read from left to right. If you meet the wide end first, say "greater than". If you meet the point first, say "less than". The less than symbol page shows the matching L trick.
How to type the greater than sign
On US and UK keyboards, the greater sign is Shift + period. On iPhone, tap 123, then #+=. On Android with Gboard, tap ?123, then =\<.
For ≥, press Option + . on a Mac or hold Alt and type 242 on a Windows number pad (more on the greater than or equal to page). In LaTeX, type > in math mode, \geq for ≥ and \gg for ≫; MathJax and KaTeX also accept \gt. In HTML, > is the safe way to write > inside text.
Other uses of >
Outside math, > has plenty of jobs. In emails and Markdown, a line that starts with > is a quote. On the command line, > sends a program's output to a file. In code, x > 10 is a comparison and >= stands in for ≥.
Websites use > or › in breadcrumbs (Home > Shop), and kaomoji like >_< use it as squinting eyes.