What is a

Decimal?
 What is a decimal?
A decimal is similar to a fraction –
It’s not a whole number.

Rather than saying ½, we can say 0.50

Instead of writing 1/10, we can say
one-tenth or 0.1.

It’s simply another form of a fraction.

 What is a decimal?

A decimal is a part of a number. We use

decimals most often when we are talking
about money.

P13.45
How would you read this number?
 P13.45
Thirteen pesos and forty five centavos.

Remember:
You do not need to use the ¢ when your
money amount is greater than P1.
 Why do I have to understand
decimals?
This is a good question.
We need to understand what the value of
each number means in order to
understand what we are talking about.

Here is an example:
A shirt costs P12.05, but when I wrote the
number down I wrote P12.5.
What’s wrong with this?
 Why is P12.5 wrong?
P12.5 really is saying P12.50, because when we
read how much something costs it always has
two places after the decimal point.

If we don’t have a digit after the first number we

must assume it is a zero. However, when we
read P12.05, the zero is the place holder so we
know it is 5¢ and not 50¢. That is a 45¢
difference. I can get a piece of gum for that
amount!
 Let’s Look at Some Place Value
One Ten One peso Ten Cents
Hundred Pesos Cents
Pesos
1 3 7 8 2

Hundreds Tens Ones Tenths Hundredths

1 3 7 8 2

AND
 How do I read a decimal?
If you look at the number 12.3, you say:
Twelve and three tenths.
If you look at the number 12.35, you say:
Twelve and thirty-five hundredths.
If you look at a number 12.05, you say:
Twelve and five hundredths.

Now you practice saying them!

 Let’s Write these Numbers in
Expanded Form
If we are using money, it would look
like this:
P100 + P30 + P7 + 80¢ + 2¢ = P137.82

If we are using decimals, it would

look like this:
100 + 30 + 7 + 0.8 + 0.02 = 137.82
 How do I Compare and Order
decimals?
7.3 and 7.03 – Which is larger?

ORGANIZE – Write the numbers vertically by lining up the decimal

points.
7.3
7.03

EQUALIZE – Add a zero to make the numbers all have the same
number of digits
7.30
7.03

ORDER – Start with the largest place and compare the decimals.

7.30 > 7.03

 Compare and Order –
Another Example
Order from least to greatest: 12.34; 12.4; 12.43; 12.3

ORGANIZE – Write the numbers vertically by lining up the decimal points.

12.34
12.4
12.43
12.3

EQUALIZE – Add a zero to make the numbers all have the same number of digits
12.34
12.40
12.43
12.30

ORDER – Start with the largest place and write the decimals in order.

12.30; 12.34; 12.40; 12.43

When else do we use decimals?
• Weight (He weighed 85.5 lbs)
• Temperature (It was so cold today, it was
only 43.7°)
• Measuring distances (example: the race
was a 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles long
• Can you think of any other times?