Tenths, hundredths and decimal place value
The trick to reading decimals is place value, just like with whole numbers. Each digit sits in its own place, and each place has a value ten times smaller than the one before it.
The place-value table
| Tens | Ones | . | Tenths | Hundredths |
| 2 | 5 | . | 0 | 7 |
The number is 25.07.
The digit 7 sits in the hundredths place. It is worth 7 hundredths, or .
Naming the digits
When you read a decimal aloud:
- Read the whole-number part normally.
- Say "point".
- Read the digits after the point one at a time.
25.07 → "twenty-five point zero seven"
3.4 → "three point four"
0.85 → "zero point eight five"
You don't say "twenty-five point seven" for 25.07 — that would mean 25.7, ten times bigger. The zero matters.
Expanded form for decimals
You can write a decimal as a sum of its place values, just like whole numbers.
25.07 = 20 + 5 + 0.07 = 20 + 5 +
Or, splitting the decimal part more:
3.47 = 3 + 0.4 + 0.07 = 3 + +
Why trailing zeros don't change the value
Look at these three decimals:
0.5 vs. 0.50 vs. 0.500
All three are the same — five tenths. Adding zeros at the end of a decimal doesn't add anything because zero of a smaller place is still nothing.
So 0.5 = = = .
⚠️ Be careful: adding zeros at the front (before the point) does change the number. 0.5 ≠ 0.05.
Common mistakes
⚠️ Reading tenths and hundredths as ones. 0.4 is four tenths, not "four". Always say "point four" or "four tenths".
⚠️ Confusing tenths and tens. They sound similar but they're a hundred times apart! Tens are big (left of the point), tenths are small (right of the point).
⚠️ Forgetting the leading zero. Write 0.5, not just ".5" — the leading zero is easier to read and harder to miss.