Place of a digit in a number – how to tell where a digit sits

Place of a digit in a number – how to tell where a digit sits

In the previous article we learned how to read the digit at a given place. Now we'll look at the reverse problem: we're given the digit and we need to find which place it sits in in the number.

The places and their order

We read the places in a number from right to left. Each one has its own name:

Position from the rightName of the placeValue
1stones1
2ndtens10
3rdhundreds100
4ththousands1,000
5thten thousands10,000
6thhundred thousands100,000
7thmillions1,000,000

The procedure

  1. Write down the number.
  2. Find the digit the question is asking about.
  3. Count which one it is from the right – that tells you the place.

Example 1

Problem: At which place is the digit 6 in the number 362,470? Solution: Let's label the digits from the right:
3
6th hundred thousands
6
5th ten thousands
2
4th thousands
4
3rd hundreds
7
2nd tens
0
1st ones

The digit 6 is the fifth from the right, so it's at the ten thousands place.

Example 2

Problem: At which place is the digit 9 in the number 8,094,371? Solution: Counting from the right:
  • 1 – ones
  • 7 – tens
  • 3 – hundreds
  • 4 – thousands
  • 9 – ten thousands ✓
  • 0 – hundred thousands
  • 8 – millions
Answer: The digit 9 is at the ten thousands place.

Watch out for digits that repeat in the number

If a digit appears more than once in a number, the question always refers to just one specific occurrence. In that case the problem will usually mark which 7 (for example) it means, or it will tell you that the digit appears only once in the number.

Example: In the number 7,507 the digit 7 appears twice – once at the ones place and once at the thousands place.

Practice it