Compare fractions and numbers with decimals in thousandths

Comparing numbers

When we are comparing numbers up to thousandths, we follow the same process as if we were working with decimals and fractions up to tenths or hundredths. The most important things to remember are:

• the place value of each digit.
• one tenth is worth more than one hundredth, which is worth more than one thousandth.

Let's look at how to compare decimals with thousandths now. 

 

What if the numbers look different? 

Sometimes we may be comparing numbers with two decimal places to numbers with three decimal places, or fractions and decimals that are written differently. 

Just like when we compared decimals and fractions to the hundredths, we may need to rename some digits, so that we are comparing numbers with the same number of decimal places. We can use a place value table and our knowledge of equivalent fractions to help us do this. However, it's very important that you put the digits in the right column. Let's look at how to do this now and discuss a couple of different strategies we can use to solve these problems.

 

Number statements

Now let's put our skills to the test, to make a statement true, using either:

• greater than (>),
• less than (<),  or
• equal to (=)

symbols.