PPT Slide
It is strongly recommended, but not strictly required that (x.compareTo(y)==0) == (x.equals(y)).
Generally speaking, any class that implements the Comparable interface and violates this condition should clearly indicate this fact. The recommended language is "Note: this class has a natural ordering that is inconsistent with equals."
o - the Object to be compared.
a negative integer, zero, or a positive integer as this object is less than, equal to, or greater than the
ClassCastException - if the specified object's type prevents it from being compared to this Object.