Place value

Place value

Place value is extremely important for developing number concept. If learners’ number concept is not firmly established, they will find calculations difficult. Later in the term, calculations will already require a firm grasp of place value, which is why learners must spend enough time on this topic. Ensure that learners understand the concept really well.

Use additional resources to ensure the proper comprehension of place value, such as: • 100 charts • Flash cards • Dienes cubes

Various methods are covered in this topic. Learners must be aware of all the different methods, but they are only required to use one method during assessment. The facilitator and learners together decide which method will work best.

Visit goo.gl/nBhGsR to find additional activities.

Place value helps us to determine the value of a digit. Our number system (the numbers that we work with) contains digits from 0 to 9 only.

What do we do when we must work with numbers greater than 9?

We use place value to indicate when we are working with numbers greater than 9. It means that the value of a digit is determined by its place or position in a number.

When we work with place value, we can think of each value as a box with high walls.

Hundreds Tens Units

In each box you can find the digits 0 to 9. As soon as the number becomes greater than 9, it jumps over the wall into the next box.

Hundreds Tens Units 7

The 7 in the Units box means that there are 7 Units. We can also write it as 7 x 1. Can you see that there are no numbers in the Tens and Hundreds boxes? This means that there are 0 x Tens and 0 x Hundreds in this number.

Let’s see what happens with a number greater than 9.

Hundreds Tens Units 13

There may only be one number in each box, but now there is a 1 and a 3 in the Units box.

What does the 13 mean? It consists of 10 + 3.

The 3 is in the Units box and it means 3 x 1, which is shown as 3.

The 10 jumps over the wall into the Tens box.

You CANNOT carry the full 10 across, because it then indicates 10 x Tens, which means 10 x 10, which equals 100. Therefore, only the 1 jumps across.

Hundreds Tens 10 Units 3

1 × Tens means 1 × 10 = 10

If you want to indicate the place value of 13, it will look like this:

Hundreds Tens 1

The same happens when there is a number greater than 9 in the Tens box.