TITLE: Is it acceptable style to mix equalities and inequalities in one line
QUESTION [11 upvotes]: Is this considered bad style
$$2 = \sqrt{4} < \sqrt{16} = 4?$$
It seems as though this is not strictly correct, since $2 = \sqrt{4}$ is a logical proposition which represents boolean value (true or false). A boolean value cannot be less than $\sqrt{16}$.
On the other hand, I am sure that most people will correctly interpret this as shorthand for $2 = \sqrt{4},$ $\sqrt{4} < \sqrt{16},$ and $\sqrt{16} = 4$

REPLY [8 votes]: It's fine - people write that way all the time. But don't ever do this: $$1\le b=c>d.$$

Edit: Various people have commented, saying that there's nothing wrong with the above. Perhaps not; it bothers me, but I'm not going to insist that it's wrong. If I claimed I didn't actually say it was wrong people would say I was being pedantic. 
One person points out that if you write the above it certainly is wrong to deduce a relationship between $1$ and $d$. And that's the problem - in my experience in "beginning analysis" classes students who write things like what's above do tend to draw incorrect conclusions. So I'm going to just rephrase what I said: "Wrong or not, don't do that. It's a bad idea."