Whole Numbers & Place Value

Why This Matters for Nursing: Understanding place value helps you read medication doses accurately. The difference between 10 mg and 100 mg could be life-or-death—place value ensures you never misread a number.

What You Need to Know

Whole numbers are the counting numbers (0, 1, 2, 3...) without fractions or decimals. Every digit in a number has a place value—its position tells you how much it's worth.

Think of it like an address: the digit's position is just as important as the digit itself. The "5" in 500 is worth much more than the "5" in 50!

Place Value Chart

In the number 4,738:

• 4 is in the thousands place = 4,000
• 7 is in the hundreds place = 700
• 3 is in the tens place = 30
• 8 is in the ones place = 8

🧠 Memory Trick

"King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk" won't help here, but try this:

Read place values right to left, starting with "ones": One → Ten → Hundred → Thousand

"Oh Those Happy Thoughts" (Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands)

Step-by-Step: Finding Place Value

1. Write the number clearly - use commas to separate groups of three digits
2. Start from the right - the rightmost digit is always the "ones" place
3. Move left - each position is 10 times larger than the one before it
4. Name the place - identify which place the digit occupies

✏️ Worked Examples

Example 1: Identify the Place Value

Problem: In the number 6,492, what is the place value of the digit 4?

Step 1 — Write the number and label each position from right to left. Start at the far right — that position is ALWAYS the ones place.

6,492 broken down from right to left:

• 2 → ones place
• 9 → tens place
• 4 → hundreds place ← that's our digit!
• 6 → thousands place

Step 2 — State the place AND the value. The place is "hundreds." The value is the digit times the place: 4 × 100 = 400.

Answer: The 4 is in the hundreds place. Its value is 400.