Javascript function not executing properly when button is pressed
<pre><code>&lt;html&gt;
    &lt;head&gt;&lt;/head&gt;

    &lt;body&gt;
        &lt;form&gt;

                &lt;table id="pulseputtable"&gt;
                &lt;tr&gt;
                    &lt;td&gt;

                        &lt;label&gt;Pulse rate : &lt;/label&gt;
                        &lt;input id="rate" type=text  placeholder="xxx"&gt; per minute &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;

                        &lt;select id="age" name=age&gt;
                                &lt;option value="age1"&gt;0-12 months&lt;/option&gt;                               
                                &lt;option value="age2"&gt;1-18 years&lt;/option&gt;
                                &lt;option value="age3"&gt;18+ years&lt;/option&gt;
                            &lt;/select&gt;
                        &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                        &lt;input type="button" value="Check"   onclick="pulse()"&gt;                         
                        &lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;

                             &lt;label id = "check"&gt;&lt;/label&gt;


                    &lt;/td&gt;   
                &lt;/tr&gt;
            &lt;/table&gt;




        &lt;/form&gt;

    &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;


         function pulse(){
         var c = document.getElementById("age");
         var age = c.options[c.selectedIndex].value;
        var rate =  document.getElementById("rate");

        switch(age){
            case "age1":
                if((rate&gt;=115) &amp;&amp; (rate&lt;=130)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Normal";
                }
                else if(( rate&lt;115)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too low";
                }
                else{
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too High";
                }

                break;    

            case "age2":
                    if((rate&gt;=80) &amp;&amp; (rate&lt;=115)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Normal";
                    }
                else if(( rate&lt;80)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too low";
                }
                else{
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too High";
                }

                break;   


            case "age3":
                        if((rate&gt;=60) &amp;&amp; (rate&lt;=80)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Normal";
                        }
                else if(( rate&lt;60)){
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too low";
                }
                else{
                    document.getElementById("check").innerHTML="Too High";
                }

                break;  
                        }
                    }


    &lt;/script&gt;





    &lt;/body&gt;




&lt;/html&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>My intention of this code is to call the pulse() function when i click the button but it does not work. Aim of the code is to input the pulse rate of a person into the text field and select an age category! After clicking the button a result should be displayed in the label based on the condtions given in the javascript function! please help me ive been hanging on this for hours! :(</p>