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1.01 Place value

Lesson

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Remember that numbers are made up of digits, and the value of those digits depends on which place it is in. Consider the number 134\,829. If we look at the number in a place value table, we see the value of each digit.

A place value table for each digit of 134829. Ask your teacher for more information.
Idea summary

By writing a number in a place value table we can see what value each digit has.

Place value

This video shows how the value of digits can change depending on the place value column. It also talks about the need for zero place-holders in our numbers.

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Examples

Example 1

Write the following in numerals:

five hundred and fifty four billion, four hundred and sixty eight million, two hundred and twenty three thousand, seven hundred and ninety eight

Worked Solution
Create a strategy

In each group of digits, there can be a hundreds (H), tens (T) or units (U) digit.

An image of the hundreds, tens, and units digits in billions, millions, thousands, and ones.

Use the number of billions, millions, thousands and ones to write the whole number in numerals.

Apply the idea

Five hundred and fifty four billion means we write 554 in the billions places.

Four hundred and sixty eight million means we write 468 in the millions places.

Two hundred and twenty three thousand means we write 223 in the thousands places.

Seven hundred and ninety eight means we write 798 in the ones places.

Writing these in order we have:554\,468\,223\,798

Idea summary

The value of any digit in a number depends on which place value column it is in. We always start from the right, with units, or ones, and move left. If there is no digit for that place value, a zero is used as a place-holder.

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