equal

equal

1. As a verb, equal has inflected forms equalled, equalling in BrE and equaled, equaling in AmE.

2. As an adjective, equal is followed by to (The square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides), whereas the verb takes a direct object without to (The square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the other two sides). Equal to also had the meaning ‘fit for, able to deal with’

• (I hope I shall be equal to the challenge —P. Street, 1990)

when it is followed by a verb this should be a verbal noun ending in -ing, not an infinitive (They are not equal to performing [☒ to perform] the task).

3. Ellipsis (omission) of to should be avoided in phrases such as equal to or greater than, as in

• Their budget must be equal to or greater than the minimum total cost of supplying the expected output —B. C. Smith, 1988.

See ellipsis.

4. Equal is often regarded as an absolute that cannot be qualified by words such as very, more, rather, etc. However, this rule does not apply to all its meanings, and it is legitimate to say, for example, They wanted a more equal allocation of resources, in which equal means ‘fair’ as much as ‘divided equally’. There is also George Orwell's famous line

• All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others —Animal Farm, 1945

which is often recalled allusively in uses such as the following:

• All victims are equal. None are more equal than others. —John Le Carré, 1989

• The embryo has rights. Are all human beings equal, or are some more equal than others? —Sun, 2005.