Determining if variables (integers) are greater or less than 0
The following will simplify your boolean logic, remove repetition in your input processing, and better express what you're really doing: 

puts "please assign an integer to x:"
x = gets.chomp.to_i

puts "now please assign an integer to y:"
y = gets.chomp.to_i

num_positive = (x &gt; 0 ? 1 : 0) + (y &gt; 0 ? 1 : 0)

case num_positive
when 2
  puts "two variables are &gt; 0"
when 1
  puts "at least one variable is &gt; 0"
else
  puts "no variables are &gt; 0"
end