These questions ask you to identify a digit's place, find the value it contributes, build a decimal from named places, or recognise equivalent decimal notation. The reliable approach is to work outwards from the decimal point rather than judge a digit by its face alone.
Build a place-value map
Mark the decimal point first. Moving right, label the columns tenths, hundredths and thousandths. To find a digit's contribution, multiply it by the value of its column. In 8.364, the 6 is in the hundredths column, so it contributes 6 × 0.01 = 0.06. To build a decimal, put each digit in its named column and write zero in any empty column that lies before a later nonzero digit. For example, 4 ones, 6 hundredths and 3 thousandths become 4.063 because the tenths column needs a zero placeholder.
| Position from the point | Place value | How to find the contribution |
|---|---|---|
| First place to the right | Tenths | Multiply the digit by 0.1. |
| Second place to the right | Hundredths | Multiply the digit by 0.01. |
| Third place to the right | Thousandths | Multiply the digit by 0.001. |
For equivalent notation, distinguish a trailing zero from a placeholder. A zero after the final nonzero decimal digit can be added or removed: 1.50 and 1.5 have the same value. A zero before a later nonzero digit fixes that digit's position, so removing it changes the value. When a decimal is described as a whole number of hundredths, rewrite every tenths unit as ten hundredths before counting the total.
Avoid these place-value traps
| Tempting route | How to reject it |
|---|---|
| Use the digit's face value as its contribution | A decimal digit represents a fraction of one. Multiply by its column value before deciding what it contributes. |
| Shift a digit into the neighbouring decimal place | Count columns from the point every time. Moving one column changes the contribution by a factor of ten. |
| Remove any zero that appears after the point | Only zeros after the last nonzero digit are trailing. A zero between the point and a later nonzero digit holds that later digit in its proper column. |
| Write named decimal parts side by side without placeholders | Create the full column map first, then fill empty internal columns with zero and add the place-value contributions. |
Try it
A sensor display reads 3.507. Enter the value contributed by the digit 7.
The distance 7.413 has one digit in the tenths place. Enter that digit.
The decimal 0.47 can be written as a whole number of hundredths. Enter that whole number.