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Year 4 Maths | Learn, see, try

Decimals name parts of one whole

A decimal point separates whole units from smaller parts. The first place to its right is tenths and the next is hundredths. The position of a digit matters: 4 tenths and 4 hundredths are different amounts.

What to notice

Decide what counts as one whole. In the square below, the entire grid is one whole, each row is one tenth and each small square is one hundredth. Comparisons need the same-sized whole.

What to do

Read the places in order: ones, tenths, hundredths. In 0.34, there are no whole units, three tenths and four extra hundredths. You can also call this thirty-four hundredths.

Why it works

One tenth can be divided into ten hundredths. Three tenths therefore cover thirty small squares; four more small squares make thirty-four out of one hundred.

Work through an example

Represent 0.34 of one whole square.

One hundred equal squares; 34 are marked, representing 0.34.
  1. Mark three full rows: 30 hundredths, or 3 tenths.
  2. Mark four more small squares. Now 34 of the 100 squares are marked.
  3. Write 0.34. The 3 is in the tenths place and the 4 is in the hundredths place.

A common mistake

0.6 is not smaller than 0.45 just because 6 is smaller than 45. Rewrite six tenths as sixty hundredths: 0.60 is greater than 0.45.

A strategy to try

Line up decimal points when comparing numbers. Compare whole units first, then tenths, then hundredths. A zero at the end of the decimal part can make the places easier to see without changing the value.

Try it now

Try three questions

No account is needed. These examples do not change saved learning progress. Choose an answer and check it for an explanation; you can try again.

1. Which number is greater?

2. How do you write seven hundredths as a decimal?

3. Which decimal has the same value as 1.2?

For parents and carers

Use a dollar as a familiar hundred-part whole: 34 cents is $0.34. Explain that this model helps with hundredths, but decimals can represent metres and other measurements too, not just money.

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