Understanding Whole Numbers and Decimals
The digit 1 is a whole number. The digit 2 is a whole number. Are there any digits between 1 & 2? You can eat 1 whole pizza. You can eat 2 whole pizzas. Can you eat more than 1 pizza but less than 2 pizzas? How can you show these parts of numbers that come in between whole numbers? One way is by using decimals.
1 2
1.0 2.0
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0
· The pizzas have been divided into 10 slices each, and each one is one tenth (.1) of a pizza.
· If you eat 1.3 pizzas, you have eaten more than 1 pizza but less than 2 pizzas.
· You have eaten 1 whole pizza and 3 slices from the other pizza. You have eaten 1 and .3 pizzas. (3 slices out of 10 slices.)
· The number 1.3 comes between the whole numbers of 1 & 2.
· If you were asked to round the number 1.3 to the nearest whole number, what would the answer be? ________
Imagine that you have 2 puzzles, each with 100 pieces. If you drop all of the pieces on the floor, you would have 200 puzzle pieces on the floor. If you picked up 110 pieces, you would have picked up 1 whole puzzle + .10 of the other puzzle. The number 1.10 comes between the whole numbers of 1 & 2.. It means 1 whole + 10 out of 100 .
whole number 1. 10 decimal (part of a whole)
1.10 2.0
1.0 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10
This is why we read this number 1.10 One and ten hundredths.
© Ellen Gabor, 2003