Place value

A binary clock can use lamps or diodes to show the time as binary digits. The image above shows the time as a BCD code.

Place value in mathematics is the value represented by a digit.

In the decimal system (which is base 10) with digits (0-9) the first column left of the decimal place is the units column, the next column to the left is the tens, the next is the hundreds. The first column right of the decimal place is the tenths column, the next is hundredths, the next is thousandths.

This can be illustrated as H T U . t h th

Place Value Media

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  Glossary of terms used in the positional numeral systems

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  Suanpan (the number represented in the picture is 6,302,715,408)

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  Chinese rod numerals; Upper row vertical form

  Lower row horizontal form
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  Example of Simon Stevin's decimal notation.

Related pages

• Arithmetic