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Ordering decimals

Practice comparing decimals and learning how to order numbers with decimals from least to greatest. Learn about the importance of examining each decimal place, starting from the left (the largest place value) and moving rightwards.

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Video transcript

- [Instructor] What we're gonna do in this video is do a few examples ordering numbers that involve decimals. So let's say that we have the numbers 1.001, 0.113, and 1.101. What I would like you to do is order these numbers from least to greatest. Take out some paper and try to do it on your own before we do it together. All right, now let's do it together. And the way I would tackle ordering numbers is I would go to the largest place value that the numbers have in common. And so, in this situation, we have a ones place value in all of them. And so we can see that this has one one, this has zero ones, and this one has one one. So the thing that has the least ones is going to be the smallest of the numbers. So this one over here is going to be the smallest of the numbers. So let me just write that over here. 0.113. And now we have to figure out which one is next between 1.001 and 1.101. Well then we just go to the next place value. So we go to the tenths place and we right over here, they're equal on the ones place. So if you go to the tenths place, this one has zero tenths while this one has one tenth. So the number on the right here is going to be larger. It has more tenths. Same number of ones, but it has more tenths. It doesn't really matter what happens to the right of that. So the next smallest number, if we're ordering from least to greatest, is going to be 1.001. And then last, but not least, would be this one. That is the largest, 1.101. Let's do another example. Let's say we had the numbers 0.424, 0.343, and 0.443. Pause this video and try to order these from least to greatest on your own. And once again, the idea here is always start with the largest place value and then compare, and then keep moving to the right if some things are equal. All right, now let's do this together. So they all have zero ones, so they're all equal there, so that's not gonna tell us much. So now let's go to the tenths place. So here I have four tenths. Here I have three tenths. Here I have four tenths. So I don't even have to look at the hundredths or the thousandths place. This one has the least tenths. So I can put that as the least, or the smallest of the three numbers, 0.343 And now, so I've already used that one, and so I need to compare these two numbers. They have the same number of ones, they have the same number of tenths, so then we move to the hundredths. So here I have two hundredths, here I have four hundredths. This one has less hundredths than this one. So the one on the left is going to be the next smallest number. So then we have 0.424. And then, last but not least, this one right over here, it has the same number of ones as everything else. It has more tenths than this middle one, and the same number of tenths as the left one. But then it has, but then it also has more hundredths than the left one right over here. So this is the largest of the numbers, 0.443. And we're done.