Definition of Place Value

• Place value is the value given to an individual number based on its placement within a longer number. In a decimal system, the places to the left of the decimal point are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on, while the places to the right of the decimal point are fractional amounts: tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and so on. The number in each place is worth ten times the amount of the number to its right.
  
  

Example of Place Value

• In the number 2648.3, the 2 is in the thousands place, the 6 is in the hundreds place, the 4 is in the tens place, the 8 is in the ones place, and the 3 is in the tenths place.
  
  

Learning Place Value

• Place value is one of the first abstract mathematical concepts children must grasp, and they must learn it before their brains are fully able to handle abstract thought. Many first and second graders get confused when they move from single-digit to double-digit numbers. Finding concrete and visual ways to present the concept of place value can help children to learn it.