Place value word problems

This lesson will show you how to solve six interesting place value word problems. Before you start this lesson, review the place value chart.

Problem #1:

A number has 5 tens and 2 more ones than tens. What is the number?

Solution

2 more ones than tens is equal to 5 + 2 or 7. Therefore, the number has 5 tens and 7 ones. The number is 57.

Problem #2:

A number has 8 ones and 2 fewer tens than ones. What is the number?

Solution

2 fewer tens than ones is equal to 8 - 2 = 6. Therefore, the number has 6 tens and 8 ones. The number is 68.

Problem #3:

A number has 6 tens and the same number of ones as tens. What is the number?

Solution

The number has 6 tens and 6 ones. The number is 66.

Problem #4:

A 4-digit number has a 6 in the thousands place, a 9 in the ones place and 0s elsewhere. What is the number?

Solution

The number is 6009

Challenging place value word problems

Problem #5:

What 3-digit number has the number 5 as its digit in the tens place and the digit in the hundreds place twice as big as the digit in the ones place?
(There may be more than 1 correct answer)

Solution

First, we need to realize that the number has 3 digits and the digit in the middle is 5. So far the number looks like this: a5b
The digit in the hundreds place is a and the digit in the ones place is b.
Possible choices for a and b:
a = 8 and b = 4
a = 6 and b = 3
a = 4 and b = 2
a = 2 and b =1

The number can be 854, 653, 452, or 251

Problem #6:

What 3-digit number am I if the digit in my tens place is five more than the digit in my ones place and the digit in my tens place is twice the digit in my hundreds place?

When the digit in the tens place is five more than the digit in the ones place, we have the following scenario for the ones and the tens place:

94, 83, 72, 61, and 50

When the digit in the tens place is twice the digit in the hundreds place, we have the following scenario for the tens and the hundreds place:

48, 36, 24, and 12

The one that satisfies both scenarios is 36 and 61. Therefore, the number is 361.