Place Value Chart

Type any number and see it split into place value columns from billions to thousandths, with the digit and its value in each, plus the expanded form. Blank charts print too.


Showing 4562318.75
Millions 106 Hundred thousands 105 Ten thousands 104 Thousands 103 Hundreds 102 Tens 101 Ones 10 Tenths 0.1 Hundredths 0.01
4 5 6 2 3 1 8 7 5
4000000 500000 60000 2000 300 10 8 0.7 0.05
Expanded form
4000000 + 500000 + 60000 + 2000 + 300 + 10 + 8 + 0.7 + 0.05

The top row is the place, the middle row is the digit sitting there, and the bottom row is what that digit is actually worth. Add the bottom row together and you get your number back.

What a place value chart shows

A digit on its own tells you almost nothing. The 5 in 500 and the 5 in 0.05 are the same symbol doing two completely different jobs, and the only thing separating them is where they sit. A place value chart makes that position visible by giving every column a name and a size. Read left to right and each column is worth ten times less than the one before it, all the way past the decimal point without interruption.

Place and value are not the same thing

This is the distinction that trips people up. The place is the name of the column, such as hundreds or tenths. The value is what the digit is worth once it sits there. In 4,562,318 the digit 5 has a place of hundred thousands and a value of 500,000. Writing every digit as its value and adding them up gives you the expanded form, which is the clearest way to see why a number means what it means.

What happens after the decimal point

Nothing special, which is the point. The pattern of dividing by ten simply keeps going: ones, then tenths, then hundredths, then thousandths. There is no "oneths" column, because the ones column already sits immediately to the left of the point and the decimal point itself is not a place, only a marker showing where the whole numbers stop. That is also why 0.5 and 0.50 are equal: adding a zero on the far right adds a column worth nothing.

Worth knowing

  • Every column is worth ten of the column to its right. That single rule generates the entire chart in both directions.
  • Zeros are not filler. The 0 in 502 is what keeps the 5 in the hundreds column instead of the tens.
  • Print the blank chart and write a number in by hand. Placing the digits yourself is what makes the idea stick.
  • Reading the expanded form out loud is the fastest way to hear whether a number has been misread.
  • Nothing you type is stored. The chart is built on our server and discarded immediately.

Frequently asked questions

A table that gives each column of a number a name and a size, from billions down to thousandths. Placing a number into it shows which column each digit occupies and what that digit is worth, which turns a string of digits into something you can reason about rather than just read.

The place is the name of the column a digit sits in. The value is what the digit is worth there. In 3,742 the digit 7 has a place of hundreds and a value of 700. Same digit, two different answers, and exam questions often ask for one while students give the other.

A number written as the sum of what each digit is worth. 4,562 becomes 4,000 + 500 + 60 + 2. It works past the decimal point too, so 3.14 becomes 3 + 0.1 + 0.04. This tool builds the expanded form automatically and skips any digit that is zero, since adding nothing changes nothing.

Tenths, hundredths and thousandths, continuing the same divide-by-ten pattern. There is no oneths column, because the ones column already sits directly left of the decimal point. The point is a marker, not a place of its own.

Switch on blank chart to print, choose how many columns you want on each side of the decimal point, then press the print button. You get the same chart with the headings intact and the digit row left empty, ready to be filled in by hand.

Because it holds a column open. In 502 the zero is doing real work: it stops the 5 sliding down into the tens column, which would turn the number into 52. A zero contributes nothing to the total but everything to the positions of the digits around it.

Up to twelve digits before the decimal point and six after it, which covers the billions column and down to millionths. The chart itself displays from billions to thousandths, and you choose the widest column so the table stays readable on a phone.

Yes. Commas, spaces and apostrophes used as thousand separators are stripped automatically, so 4,562,318.75 and 4 562 318.75 both work. Use a full stop for the decimal point.

How does a place value chart work?

Each column is worth ten times less than the one to its left, running from billions down through ones and past the decimal point to thousandths. Type any number and this tool shows the place, the digit and its value in every column, plus the expanded form. Switch on blank mode to print an empty chart.