Same Math › Grades 2–5 › Place value chart
How does a place value chart work?
A place value chart puts each digit of a number in its own column: ones, tens, hundreds and so on. The column tells you what the digit is worth, so 5 can mean 5, 50 or 5,000.
- Each column is 10 times the column to its right.
- The digit says how many; the column says what kind.
- 4,000 + 800 + 20 + 5 = 4,825
Why schools teach it
Every other method rests on it
All the new methods (number bonds, the area model, partial quotients) depend on one idea: a digit's value depends on its place. In 4th grade kids learn that each place is worth ten times the place to its right (4.NBT.A.1).
In 5th grade the chart extends past the decimal point (5.NBT.A.1). The same rule holds: each place is one-tenth of the place to its left, which is why tenths come before hundredths.
At the kitchen table
What to say, and what to skip
Say this
Which column is the 8 in? So what is it worth?
What happens if the 4 moves one column to the left?
It becomes 10 times bigger. That's the 4th-grade idea.Read the number using the column names.
"Two and twenty-five hundredths" for 2.25 says the value.What comes right after the ones, past the decimal point?
Tenths. There's no "oneths" column.
Skip this
To multiply by 10, just add a zero.
It breaks with decimals: 2.5 × 10 isn't 2.50. Say "the digits move one place to the left."- Reading 3.25 only as "three point two five."Classes teach "three and twenty-five hundredths" because it says what the digits are worth.
- Skipping zero placeholders.In 4,072 the 0 holds the hundreds place. Without it, the number is 472.
See it in action
Which is bigger: 3.4 or 3.25?
Line both numbers up at the decimal point in the chart
3 . 4 and 3 . 2 5Compare column by column from the left
Ones: 3 and 3, the same. Tenths: 4 and 2.The first difference decides it
4 tenths > 2 tenths, so 3.4 > 3.25
Many kids pick 3.25 because 25 is bigger than 4. The chart fixes that in one look.
Free practice sheet
Make a place value chart sheet
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Parents also ask
What do HTh and TTh mean?
Hundred thousands and ten thousands. Charts abbreviate to fit the columns.
Why do some charts group columns in threes?
Bigger charts group places into periods (ones, thousands, millions) to match the commas in a number.
Why is the ones column in the middle of decimal charts?
The chart is balanced around the ones place: tens mirror tenths, hundreds mirror hundredths.
When do kids learn thousandths?
In 5th grade, when they read, write and compare decimals to thousandths (5.NBT.A.3).