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# Guarded Equations

**Guarded equations** provide an alternative to if-else statements and are especially useful when we need multiple ifs in our code. Like [`MultiWayIfs`](/defining-functions-working-with-functions/conditionals/multiwayif.md), they represent a sequence of expressions that evaluate to either `True` or `False` (conditions) which are individually called guards and are used to decide the flow of the program. The syntax is very similar to the `MultiWayIf` syntax and allows us to get rid of the `if` keyword altogether:

```haskell
trackScore :: Float -> Float -> String
trackScore time avgTime  -- equation sign moved to each expression below
  | time < avgTime = "Great! Your time is " ++ show (avgTime - time) ++ "
      seconds below average!"
  | time > avgTime = "Your time is " ++ show (time - avgTime) ++ " 
      seconds above average."
  | otherwise = "Your time is on par with the average time!"
```

Note that in the above implementation of **guarded equations**, we have **moved the equation sign** in the line `trackScore time avgTime`, and we have **replaced the ifs arrow** `(->)` with it.