When evaluating a compound inequality connected by the word 'or', the solution consists of all numbers that make either inequality true. This combined set of solutions is the union of the two inequalities. Geometrically, if you graph each inequality on a number line, the union is the entire region formed by combining the shaded parts of both individual graphs. Just as the United States is the union of all 50 states, the mathematical solution is the union of all numbers that belong to either graph.