Basic Math: How to Read Decimals

Knowing how to read decimals can tell you exactly how much gas is going into your tank

Decimals are very important to our system of numbers. We use them to show values between whole numbers. At first, reading decimals may seem difficult, but with some understanding of place value, decimals become very easy to read.

Instructions

1. Read whole numbers using place value correctly. Reading decimals is absolutely dependent on understanding place value. In our base ten number system, place value is based on powers of ten. In the ones place, each digit represents one times that digit. For example eight in the ones place is equal to one times eight. Place value columns increase by an order of ten each successive column to the left. So an eight in the tens column is equal to ten times eight; an eight in the hundreds column is equal to 100 times eight. Knowing the names of the place value columns is a shortcut to understanding the value of the digit in each column. A digit in the thousands column has a value equal to that digit times 1,000.

2. Read the decimal point as a connector between whole numbers and part numbers, or fractions. The digits to the left of the decimal point are whole numbers; the digits to the right of the decimal point are fractions. The first place value column to the right of the decimal point is the tenths column. Values grow smaller by an order of ten as place value columns move to the right. An eight in the hundredths column is 1/10 the value of an eight in the tenths column. The part of the number to the right of the decimal point represents a fraction of a whole; 23.08 represents 23 and 8/100.

3. Put the whole number to the left of the decimal and the fraction to the right together. Use the word "and" to signify that a number is not a whole number. Everything before the "and" represents a whole number and everything after the "and" represents a fraction: 2,304.342 is equal to 2,304 and 342/1,000.

4. Add a zero to the left of the decimal point on numbers that are less than one. Use this zero only in writing decimals, not saying them. Customarily, even though the zero is understood to be present, it is not read aloud, whether it is written or not.

References

• Math.com: Decimal Numbers
• Syracuse University Office of Institutional Research and Assessment: Introduction to Decimals