The three digits of a three-digit number
Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones
What a learner can do afterwards
- State the value of each digit in a three-digit number (e.g. in 362, the 3 represents 3 hundreds)
- Partition a three-digit number into hundreds, tens, and ones (e.g. 485 = 400 + 80 + 5)
- Explain why 706 has 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones
The lesson
A three-digit number has three digits, like 362. Each digit has a job. The first digit tells you the hundreds. The middle digit tells you the tens. The last digit tells you the ones.
Look at 485. The 4 is in the hundreds spot, so it means 4 hundreds. The 8 is in the tens spot, so it means 8 tens. The 5 is in the ones spot, so it means 5 ones. Put them together: 400 + 80 + 5 = 485.
Do not just read the digits like separate words. Read a three-digit number by its spots: hundreds first, then tens, then ones. In 706, the 0 is in the tens spot, so there are 0 tens, but the 6 is still 6 ones.
Every three-digit number has three jobs: first digit is hundreds, middle is tens, last is ones.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 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.