Decimal Fundamentals: Order of Decimal Numbers
12 . 0.3 . 329.53 . 0.00002 . 44,801 . 0.099 . Which number is the largest? Which number is the smallest?
We write all numbers vertically - up and down. We line up the decimal points - we put all decimal points above and below each other:
12.
0.3
329.53
0.00002
44801.
0.099
The numbers 12 and 44,801 don't have a decimal point because when we use these numbers in everyday life, they don't need a decimal point. However, if we have both whole numbers (numbers that are not fractions) and decimal numbers (numbers that are fractions) then - to make things easier for us - we write a decimal point after any whole number.
Which number has the largest place value? 44,801 - because the largest place value of this number is 40,000 (forty thousands).
We now have the following numbers:
0.009
0.00081
0.12
0.065
All of these numbers are decimals. We again ask: Which number has the largest place value? 0.12 - because the largest place value of this number is 0.1 (one tenths).
The following two numbers both have a value of 1 in the tenths column:
0.1299
0.14
For each number, we must look at the value for the hundredths column. 0.14 is the larger number because 4 hundredths is greater than 2 hundredths.
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