range of numbers?

is there a way to check if a number is in a certain range, for example…

set theNumber to "5"
if theNumber is in the range of "1" and "10" then
display dialog "This number is in the range"
end if

something like that.

set theNumber to "5"
set N to theNumber as real -- could have been 'as number' or 'as integer'
if N is greater than or equal to 1 and N is less than or equal to 10 then (display dialog "This number is in the range")

(*
could have written N ≥ 1 abd B ≤ 10 using option > and option <
*)

cool, thanks.