Decimals
Read and Write Decimals
Read Decimals
In reading decimals, keep two things in mind:
- The decimal is said as “and”.
- The last place names the fractional portion of the decimal. That is, if there are two numbers to the right of the decimal, than the decimal fraction is in the hundredths since the second place after the decimal is the hundredths place.
Example:
| 14.23 | is read/written | fourteen and twenty-three hundredths |
| 0.5 | is read/written | five tenths |
| 108.006 | is read/written | one hundred eight and six thousandths |
| 9.1 | is read/written | nine and one tenth |
Write Decimals
We can write any decimal in English or numerical terms. There are two types of problems in this topic which you may encounter.
- Given a decimal written numerically, write it in words.
- Given a decimal written in words, write is numerically.
Writing Decimals in Words
Suppose you want to write 3.15 in words:
- Look for numbers to the left of the decimal point. Write this number first. In this problem, it is “three”.
- Write “and” for the decimal point.
- Name the number after the decimal point as if it were a whole number. In our case “fifteen”.
- Add the place label for the number of places after the decimal point. In our case the last digit, a 5, is in the hundredths place.
| 3.15 | is written | three and fifteen hundredths |
Now suppose you want to write 0.315 in words. Notice, there are no numbers to the left of the decimal point.
To write these numbers in words use the procedure described above, only begin with step 3.
| 0.315 | is written | three hundred fifteen thousandths |
Practice 1: Express the following decimals in words.
a. 350.02 b. 0.004 c. 2.08 d. 34.5
Writing Decimals Numerically
When given a decimal written in words, you follow a similar process. There are two types of written statements, those with an “and” and those without.
Example with an “and”
Twenty-five and forty-seven thousandths
| 1. Start at the left and write the whole number | 25 |
| 2. Add a decimal point in the place of the word “and” | 25. |
| 3. Write the portion after “and” as a number with the last digit in the place indicated | 25.047 |
In this case, thousandths indicates three decimal places, but 47 only contains two places. So, we add a zero in front of the four and after the decimal point.
Example with an “and”
One hundred seventy-three thousandths
| 1. Write a decimal point | 0. |
| 2. Write the number with the last digit in the indicated place | 0.143 |
Practice 2: Express the following statements as decimals.
a. Two hundred twenty-six ten-thousandths
b. Eight thousandths
c. Thirty-nine and seventeen hundredths
d. Four thousand five and four tenths
