Understanding place value

In a nutshell

Place value is used to help read and understand numbers more clearly.

Digit

A digit is a single number that may be part of a bigger number.

Integer

An integer is a whole number.

Sorting whole numbers into their place values

To sort a number into place values, place each digit of the number into its own place value. Start from right to left.

Example 1

Write the number $6168325$ in place values.

From right to left:

Place value	Example	Read as
Ones (also called units)	$5$	Five
Tens	$20$	Twenty
Hundreds	$300$	Three hundred
Thousands	$8000$	Eight thousand
Ten thousands	$60000$	Sixty thousand
Hundred thousands	$100000$	One hundred thousand
Millions	$6000000$	Six million

Reading whole numbers

To read whole numbers, you first need to know how to group digits. To group the digits of a number, start from the right (i.e. the units) and place commas after every three digits.

Examples

$6168325$ becomes $6,168,325$ 
$52001$ becomes $52,001$
$727$ stays as $727$
$600200$ becomes $600,200$

Reading whole numbers

Once the digits of a number are grouped like shown above, read the number from left to right in their grouped place value.

Example 2

How is $6,168,325$ read?

Looking at the groups from left to right:

The " $6$ " represents millions. So, it is read as "six million".

The " $168$ " is in the thousands section. So, it is read as "one hundred and sixty eight thousand".

The " $325$ " is read normally as "three hundred and twenty five".

Therefore, $6,168,325$ is read as "six million, one hundred and sixty eight thousand, three hundred and twenty five".

Decimal place values

Decimals have their own place values.

The first digit after the decimal point is the tenths position.
The next digit after that is the hundredths position.
The digit after that is the thousandths position.

Example 3

Sort the number $32.145$ in place values:

Place value	Example
Thousandths	$0.005$
Hundredths	$0.04$
Tenths	$0.1$
Decimal point	$.$
Ones (also called units)	$2$
Tens	$30$

Reading decimal numbers

To read numbers to the right of the decimal point, just read each digit individually. Read the decimal point as "point".

Example 4

How is the number $32.105$ read?

Read from left to right, reading the decimal point as "point":

$32.105$ is read as "thirty two point one zero five".

Note: Commas are not used when grouping digits to the right of the decimal point.