Place value tells the value of a digit based on its position in a number. Each place is ten times greater than the place to its right.
A digit’s value changes when it moves to a different place in the number.
Each place is related to the next by a factor of ten. A digit in one place is ten times the value of the same digit in the place to its right, and one-tenth the value of the same digit in the place to its left.
Thinking in groups of ten makes it easier to understand how numbers grow or shrink when digits shift places.
To convert between place values, you multiply or divide by ten. Moving a digit to the left makes it ten times greater. Moving a digit to the right makes it one-tenth as great.
A quick check: if the number gets bigger, you multiplied by ten; if the number gets smaller, you divided by ten.
Breaking a number into thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones helps you understand and explain its value. This is called writing a number in expanded form.
Expanded form helps you see how each place contributes to the total number.
You can compare numbers by looking at the highest place value first. The number with the greater digit in the largest place is the greater number.
Always compare digits from left to right, starting with the greatest place value.