Lesson 1: Thousandths: Introduction and Representation

Property

Tenths are important fractions because they are the foundation of our decimal number system. We can represent one-tenth in several ways:

• $\frac{1}{10}$ One out of ten
• $0.1$ The first place after the decimal point is the tenths place.
• $0.10$ Ten hundredths is the same as one-tenth: $\frac{10}{100}=\frac{1}{10}$

To find $\frac{1}{10}$ of a number, we divide by 10.

Property

A fraction with a denominator of $1,000$ is equivalent to a decimal that extends to the thousandths place, which is the third position to the right of the decimal point.

Examples

• The fraction $\frac{4}{1000}$ is read as "four thousandths" and is written as the decimal $0.004$.

• The fraction $\frac{97}{1000}$ is read as "ninety-seven thousandths" and is written as the decimal $0.097$.