Decimals place value!

As you study this lesson, you will discover that decimals place value is similar to place value of whole numbers. Study the following diagram carefully. You should see some similarity with place value for whole numbers.
Decimals place value
In the number 15.43258, the place value for 4 is the tenths.

Note that 1 tenth = 0.1 or 
1 / 10
 , so 4 tenths means 4 × 0.1 or 0.4.


Note also that in the number 15.43258, the place value for 2 is the thousandths.

1 thousandth = 0.001 or 
1 / 1000
 , so 2 thousandths means 2 × 0.001 or 0.002.

There is another way to look at it and extract 0.002 from 15.43258.

Write down the 2, then replace all numbers on the left of 2 with a zero. We get 00.002 and looking at 00.002, you can get rid of the extra zero on the left. Notice that the last number that will be replaced with a zero is the one right before the number 2. Finally, as you can see, you still get the same answer of 0.002.

A few interesting decimals place value exercises that will help you practice and clearly understand this lesson.

Example #1:

For the decimal number 756.45, find the name of the place of the underlined digit.

4 is in the tenths place.

Example #2:

For the decimal number 6214.265, find the name of the place of the underlined digit.

5 is in the thousandths place.

Example #3:

For the decimal number 32564.10477, find the name of the place of the underlined digit.

0 is in the hundredths place.

Example #4:

For the decimal number 50.00009014, find the name of the place of the underlined digit.

9 is in the hundred-thousandths place.

Now, try to find the value of each of the numbers above.

For 756.45, the value of 4 is 4 × 0.1 and that is equal to 0.4.

For 6214.265, the value of 5 is 5 × 0.001 and that is equal to 0.005.

For 50.00009014, the value of 9 is 9 × 0.00001 and that is equal to 0.00009.

For 32564.10477, the value of 0 is 0 × 0.01 and that is equal to 0.00.

0.00 is of course just 0!

Decimals place value quiz. Check your understanding of this lesson.

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