Welcome to the Comparing Decimals page.
When you compare decimals, the main thing that you need to remember is to line up the decimals. Once you have done this, you simply just have to look at the place value to find the value of each number.
Example #1 Comparing Decimals
Step 1-Line up each number by their decimals.
*As you can see in the example below, after the numbers are lined up, all that you need to do is look at the place value.
- The greatest number in this problem is 1.1. It is the greatest because it is the only number with a whole. If you think of these numbers like money, 1.1 is equivalent to $1.10.
- The next greatest number would be .61. It is the next largest because it has a 6 in the tenths place. The rest of the numbers remaining either have a 2 or a 1. If this was money, it would be .61 cents.
- The third greatest number would be .2. It is the third largest because it has a 2 in the tenths place and the other remaining number has a 1 in the tenths place. If this was money, it would be .20 cents.
- The smallest number is .19. It does not have any digit in the ones column and only has a 1 in the tenths column. Although it has a 9 in the hundredths column, the hundredths doesn't carry a lot of value due to it's small size. If this was money, it would be worth .19 cents.
Step 2-Adding zeros to fill in missing digits.
*Although this step is not necessary, it sometimes helps visualize which number is greater.
Put the following numbers in order from greatest to least
1.) .8 .19 2 .111
2.) .981 1.3 .99 .75
Use <, >, or = to compare the following numbers.
3.) 5 thousandths + 4 tenths ___________ .5
4.) 8 ones + 1 tenth ___________ 8.01
Put the following numbers is order from least to greatest.
5.) .7 3.2 .681 .69
6.) three and two hundredths, seventeen thousandths, one tenth, one, three hundred nine thousandths
.7) six and two hundredths, seven hundred three thousandths, four tenths, one and seventeen thousandths, twenty-seven hundredths
8.) seven hundred, seventeen hundredths, six, six tenths, nine hundred thousandths, nine thousandths
9.) two hundred and four hundredths, two hundred thousandths, eight, six tenths
10.) three hundred twenty eight thousandths, thirty six hundredths, two, nine thousandths
11.) Please put in order from least to greatest
4.1 , / .837 / .9 / .88