Thousands to Trillions
Once you have mastered ones, tens and hundreds, the number system extends outward in a predictable pattern. Every group of three places forms a period, and each new period is given a name: thousands, millions, billions and beyond.
The Place Value Periods
| Period | Places Included | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| Ones | Ones, Tens, Hundreds | 1 |
| Thousands | Thousands, Ten Thousands, Hundred Thousands | 1,000 |
| Millions | Millions, Ten Millions, Hundred Millions | 1,000,000 |
| Billions | Billions, Ten Billions, Hundred Billions | 1,000,000,000 |
| Trillions | Trillions, Ten Trillions, Hundred Trillions | 1,000,000,000,000 |
Full Place Value Chart
| Place | Value | Digits in Number |
|---|---|---|
| Ones | 1 | 1-digit |
| Tens | 10 | 2-digit |
| Hundreds | 100 | 3-digit |
| Thousands | 1,000 | 4-digit |
| Ten Thousands | 10,000 | 5-digit |
| Hundred Thousands | 100,000 | 6-digit |
| Millions | 1,000,000 | 7-digit |
| Ten Millions | 10,000,000 | 8-digit |
| Hundred Millions | 100,000,000 | 9-digit |
| Billions | 1,000,000,000 | 10-digit |
| Trillions | 1,000,000,000,000 | 13-digit |
Reading a Large Number
Consider 4,725,038,196. Break it into periods from right to left:
How Each Period Relates to the Previous
| Relationship | Value |
|---|---|
| 1 thousand = 10 hundreds | 1,000 |
| 1 million = 1,000 thousands | 1,000,000 |
| 1 billion = 1,000 millions | 1,000,000,000 |
| 1 trillion = 1,000 billions | 1,000,000,000,000 |
Real-World Scale
- A typical school has a few hundred students.
- A large city may have a few million residents.
- The world population is about 8 billion people.
- The US national debt is measured in trillions of dollars.
- The distance to the nearest star in kilometres runs into the trillions.
- Places are grouped into periods of three: ones, thousands, millions, billions, trillions.
- Each period is 1,000 times greater than the previous period.
- Commas separate periods and make large numbers easy to read.
- The pattern of ones, tens, hundreds repeats inside every period.
Practice: Identify the Place Value
A digit in the large number below is highlighted. If you get its value wrong (or leave it blank), we'll walk through which period and place it belongs to.
Summary
The decimal number system extends far beyond hundreds by grouping places into periods. Each period – thousands, millions, billions, trillions – is one thousand times larger than the period before it. Once you understand the ones period, you can read and write numbers of any size by applying the same pattern.
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