Place value

The place value tells you the value of each digit in a number. In our numeration system, the digits that we use are any of the symbols 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.

The value of a digit or each place is equal to 10 times the value of the place to its right.

Notice that each number has a place and a value, thus the name place value.

The figure above shows only 4 places and these are the ones place, the tens place, the hundreds place, and the thousands place. The number that the figure above represents is 1111.

How would write down the number 3248 using the place value blocks? 

3248 is equal to 3 thousands, 2 hundreds, 4 tens, and 8 ones. 

The number 8 is in the ones place and it has a value of 8.
The number 4 is in the tens place and it has a value of 400.
The number 2 is in the hundreds place and it has a value of 200.
The number 3 is in the thousands place and it has a value of 3000.

For big numbers such 250,785,864, we show the place values with the figure below. Study the name of the places for each number starting with 4.

Looking at the number, you can see that 7 is in the hundred-thousands place and 2 is in the hundred-millions place.

It also means that the value of 7 is 7 hundred thousand or 700,000 and the value of 2 is 2 hundred million or 200,000,000 .

More examples showing how to find the place value.

Examples:

Find the name of the place and the value for each underlined digit

579

9 is in the Ones place and it has a value of 9.

9877

9 is in the thousands place and it has a value of 9000.

5698746

6 is in the hundred-thousands place and it has a value 600,000.

67892456

7 is in the millions place and it has a value of 7,000,000


34521663987

2 is in the ten-millions place and it has a value of 20,000,000


8962212352

1 is in the ten-thousands place and it has a value of 10,000

The place value quiz below will help you see if you understood the lesson on this page.