Class 5 to 7 · 31 games

Decimals, explained with pictures

Another way to write the pieces of a whole, using a dot.

In everyday life: Prices like Rs 24.50, a height of 1.6 m, a cricket average of 38.75.

The dot marks where the whole numbers end

Left of the dot is whole things. Right of the dot is part of one thing. In 3.7 you have 3 whole ones and 7 tenths of another.

3437/10
3.7 sits between 3 and 4

Each step right is ten times smaller

The first place after the dot is tenths, the next hundredths, the next thousandths. So 0.5 is much bigger than 0.05, even though the 5 looks the same in both.

0.5 is 5 tenths
0.05 is 5 hundredths

Decimals and fractions are the same idea

0.25 and 1/4 are the same amount written two ways. You can always swap between them; sometimes one is just easier to work with.

1/4
0.25 — the same amount

A worked example

Which is bigger, 0.4 or 0.35?

0.4 is 4 tenths
0.35 is 35 hundredths

0.4

0.35 has more digits, but that does not make it bigger. Compare place by place: 4 tenths beats 3 tenths, so 0.4 wins.

Words to know

decimal point
The dot that separates whole ones from parts of one.
tenths
The first place after the dot — one whole cut into ten.
hundredths
The second place after the dot — one whole cut into a hundred.

In the games

You will match decimals to fractions, compare two decimals, and put a set of decimals in order.

Skills

  • Decimals and fractions · Class 6
  • Compare decimals · Class 6
  • Order decimals by size · Class 6
  • Add, subtract and multiply decimals · Class 6

By class

Practise decimals in Tivumo

No download, no account for your child. Classes 3 to 12, more than 1,000 games.