Although inequalities that naturally arise in applications often involve functions that are not linear or quadratic, many high school graduates come to college with a rather limited knowledge in this area. Typically, they will be able to solve linear inequalities; however, these students will have difficulties even with simple quadratic inequalities. On the other hand, many of them will be able to solve relatively complex equations. The reason for this phenomenon is clear: the traditional methods of solving non-linear inequalities significantly differ from that of the corresponding equations. |