Choose the larger amount
A hall with 602,419 seats is larger than a hall with 599,880 seats.
The hundred-thousands place decides straight away.
Year 5
Solve number problems and practical problems that involve all of the above
Use place value, large-number comparison, negative numbers and rounding to solve practical problems.
Lesson overview
Number - number and place value
Place value ideas help us choose efficient strategies. We can compare large numbers by starting with the biggest place, use rounding to estimate, and use number-line thinking to reason in practical contexts.
Use rounding to estimate
348,251 is about 348,000 to the nearest 1,000.
A rounded number can help judge whether an answer is sensible.
Use negative numbers in context
A temperature moving from -2 to 3 rises by 5 degrees.
Crossing zero still follows the same number-line order.
Worked example
A town has 482,741 people. About how many people is that to the nearest 10,000?
- Find the nearest ten thousands around the number.
- 482,741 lies between 480,000 and 490,000.
- It is below the halfway point of 485,000.
- So it rounds to 480,000.
Round 1: Learn it
Pick out the place-value idea in the problem before solving.
Finish this round to unlock Round 2: Show you know it.
Question 1
Which population is larger?
Question 2
A number rounds to 480,000 to the nearest 10,000. Which could it be?
Question 3
A lift moves from floor 2 to floor -3. How many floors does it travel?
Question 4
Which numeral shows nine hundred thousand and six?
Question 5
Which year could MMXXI represent?
Common mistakes
Watch for these as you work through the lesson.
- Ignoring the key place-value clue in the question.
- Comparing smaller places before checking the largest place.
- Rounding to the wrong target place.
Related topics
These ideas connect closely to this lesson.
- Read, write, order and compare numbers to at least 1,000,000 and determine the value of each digit.
- Round any number up to 1,000,000 to the nearest 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000.