Video Transcript
Complete the following using the
symbol for is equal to, is less than, or is greater than.
In this question, we’re given two
numbers, and they’ve been written for us in place value tables. Let’s read them. Our first number contains one one,
four-tenths, and eight hundredths, 1.48. Our second number also has a single
one, it also has four-tenths, but this time it has six hundredths, 1.46. These two numbers are decimals. They have a whole part. That’s the number of ones. But then they also have a part
that’s worth less than one. And to separate the whole part from
the fractional part, we use a decimal point.
Now, in between our two decimals,
there’s a box. And we need to complete the
statement using one of the comparison symbols we’re given equal to, less than, or
greater than. In other words, we need to compare
both these decimals together. Now both of these decimals have
been written in place value tables to help us. So we can compare them digit by
digit. Now shall we start with the
hundredths and work from right to left? Or shall we start with the ones and
work from left to right? Well, if we take a moment to think
about what each one of these columns is worth, we know that our ones column
represents one whole.
Now, as we move to the right, each
new column is worth 10 times less than the one before. So a tenth is 10 times less than a
whole. It’s what we get if we take a whole
and split it up into 10 equal parts. And then a hundredth is 10 times
less again. It’s what we get if we take one of
our tenths and split that up into 10 equal parts. So knowing that, which part of our
number do you think is most important? It’s the part that’s worth the
most. We need to start by comparing our
ones column and then work from left to right. Our first decimal number contains a
one in the ones place. But can you see we’ve also got this
in our second number too? So we can’t separate our numbers
just by looking at the ones. We’re going to need to move on and
look at the tenths.
Both numbers have a four in the
tenths place. We still can’t separate them. The beginning of both our decimals
is the same, isn’t it, one and four-tenths. We’re going to need to compare the
hundredth digits. Below these are the digits that
have the least value in our numbers. They’re actually going to turn out
to be the ones that make the difference. This tells us that the difference
or a gap between our two numbers is very small. It’s just going to be a matter of
hundredths. Our first number has an eight in
the hundredths place, but our second number only has a six. And eight hundredths are greater
than six hundredths.
The difference between our two
numbers is only two hundredths, which is a tiny difference. But it’s enough for us to be able
to say which number is larger. We’ve compared these two decimal
numbers digit by digit using place value tables. One, four tenths, and eight
hundredths is greater than one, four tenths, and six hundredths. Or to say it a different way, 1.48
is greater than 1.46. The correct symbol to use in
between these two decimals is the one that represents is greater than.
