Beginning Decimals

FIRST of all, its important to understand that DECIMALS and FRACTIONS are basically the SAME THING! They both are used to show amounts that are less than 1 whole but greater than ZERO!

SECOND of all, READING a DECIMAL number is a lot like reading a normal number: You have to pay attention to the PLACE VALUE!

Fractions have a number on the top and a number on the bottom, RIGHT?

Well, what is the number on the top called?

What is the number on the bottom called?

What does each number tell us about the amount it represent?

You remembered that the number on top is the NUMERATOR.

You also remembered that the number on the bottom is called the DENOMINATOR.

You remembered that the NUMERATOR tells us how many pieces we are paying attention to.

And finally, you remembered that the DENOMINATOR tells you a few things: how many of those pieces it takes to make a whole, or put another way, how many piece the whole is cut into, AND how big those pieces are!

WHEW!

The prefix "deci-" means "to split into 10"

We call the first place to the RIGHT of the DECIMAL "TENTHS"

We call the next place to the right "HUNDREDTHS"

After that, we have "THOUSANDTHS", "TEN THOUSANDTHS", "HUNDRED THOUSANDTHS"......

Each place the right is 10 TIMES SMALLER than its neighbor to the left!

Watch the following video to get some practice recognizing TENTHS!