Identify the value of each digit in numbers given to three decimal places (e.g. in 4.378, the 7 represents 7 hundredths)
You already know how to read whole numbers: ones, tens, hundreds. Decimals continue that same pattern, but on the other side of the point. Right after the point comes tenths, then hundredths, then thousandths.
Look at 2.635. The 2 is ones. The 6 is tenths. The 3 is hundredths. The 5 is thousandths.
Each place you move right cuts the value by ten. Tenths divided by ten gives hundredths. Hundredths divided by ten gives thousandths. That order is also how you compare two decimals: read from the left and stop at the first place where the digits differ. 2.5 has 5 tenths and 2.45 has only 4, so 2.5 is the bigger number even though it shows fewer digits.
To write a number from its digit values: 4 ones, 0 tenths, 7 hundredths, 3 thousandths. Put each digit in its spot: 4.073. Don't forget the 0 as a placeholder for tenths.
Count the spots after the point: first is tenths, second is hundredths, third is thousandths, and each one is ten times smaller than the one before.
Practice items adapted from WeBWorK Open Problem Library problems by Carl Yao (PCC) (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). Rewritten reading was written for this dataset.
Meadow Lane strawberries go to the Saturday stall now. In the season ledger the places ran left from the point: ones, tens, hundreds. The stall scale runs the other way. Leo tips a punnet on and the dial settles at 2.635 kg.
What does the 6 stand for?
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18 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.