Decimal place value chart

An interactive place value chart from thousands to thousandths: type a number to see each digit’s value, words and expanded form.

🧒 Kids: type a number with a point, like 3.47. Then tap × 10 and ÷ 10 and watch the digits jump!

What a place value chart shows

Every digit in a number has a place, and the place decides what it is worth. The 5 in 500 is worth five hundred, but the 5 in 0.05 is worth five hundredths. A place value chart puts each digit in its own column, so children can read its value instead of guessing.

Moving one column to the left multiplies by 10. Moving one column to the right divides by 10. That one rule runs through the whole chart, on both sides of the point.

The places after the decimal point

• Tenths (0.1): one whole cut into 10 equal parts. 0.3 is 3 tenths.
• Hundredths (0.01): one whole cut into 100 equal parts, like cents in a dollar. 0.07 is 7 hundredths.
• Thousandths (0.001): one whole cut into 1,000 parts, like millimetres in a metre. 0.125 is 125 thousandths.

The names mirror the places before the point: tens and tenths, hundreds and hundredths, thousands and thousandths. The “th” is the clue that the place is a part, not a group.

Reading and writing decimals

Read the whole number and say “and” for the point. Then read the digits after the point as one number, and finish with the name of the last place. For example, 3.47 is “three and forty-seven hundredths”. 0.205 is “two hundred five thousandths”.

Expanded form writes the value of every digit as a sum: 3.47 = 3 + 0.4 + 0.07. The chart above shows both forms for any number you type.

Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000

Use the × 10 and ÷ 10 buttons. The decimal point stays still and the digits move. Times 10 moves every digit one place left, and dividing by 10 moves every digit one place right. Times 100 is two moves, and × 1,000 is three. This is why 4.5 × 100 = 450 and 4.5 ÷ 100 = 0.045.

Ready-made place value activities

1. Digit detective: type 5.555. Ask “what is each 5 worth?” (5, 0.5, 0.05, 0.005).
2. Make it bigger: start at 0.3 and tap × 10 three times. Say each number aloud.
3. Zero matters: compare 3.05 and 3.5 in the chart. Which digit is in the tenths place?
4. Money match: type 4.75 and read it as dollars and cents.
5. Grid check: type 0.4 and 0.40. The grid shows the same amount shaded.

For teachers

The chart works well on a projector: type a number from the class and ask children to predict the expanded form before it appears. Share a number with a link: add ?n=2.408 to the address. Nothing is stored and no login is needed.

Place value skills by grade

More decimal help

• Decimals quiz for grades 4 to 6, and decimal levels to learn step by step, and decimal games.
• Place value practice: 10 questions on digit values and expanded form.
• Decimal calculator with steps.
• Decimals chart and place value chart to print.
• Place value for whole numbers and the multiply by 10, 100 and 1,000 worksheet.

Back to decimals for kids.