Tool
Place value chart generator
A printable place value chart with the places you need, from the ones up to the billions — or to the ten crores in the Indian system — and tenths, hundredths and thousandths after the point. Each period in its own colour, the value of every place under its name, and rows to write in, or your own numbers written in for a worksheet. A4 or US Letter.
Reading big numbers by their periods
Children read a long number by its periods: 1,204,507 is “one million, two hundred four thousand, five hundred seven”, each group of three read as hundreds, tens and ones and then given its period’s name. A chart with the periods in colour makes that visible, and a zero in a column shows that the place is there even when it is empty. For decimals, put the same numbers on a number line, or compare tenths and hundredths as pieces with the fraction strips.
Keeps these settings in the link. Useful for moving from a phone to the computer with the printer on it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a place value chart?
A table with a column for each place a digit can stand in — ones, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on, and after the decimal point tenths, hundredths and thousandths. Writing a number into it, one digit a column, shows what each digit is worth: in 4,507 the 4 is in the thousands column, so it means 4,000, and the 0 holds the hundreds place empty.
What are periods?
Groups of three places that share a name — the ones period (hundreds, tens, ones), the thousands period, the millions period — and that commas separate when the number is written: 1,204,507 is one million, two hundred four thousand, five hundred seven. The chart colours each period, so the comma falls where the colour changes.
Does it have the Indian place value system?
Yes: choose Indian system for lakhs and crores. After the thousands the places go Ten thousands, Lakhs, Ten lakhs, Crores, Ten crores, and the commas follow the periods 3-2-2: 12,34,567 is twelve lakh thirty-four thousand five hundred sixty-seven. The values under each place are written the Indian way too, 1,00,000 for a lakh.
Can I fill in numbers for a worksheet?
Type them one a line under Numbers to write in — 3456, 1,204,507, 12.75 — and each is written into a row, digit by digit, lined up on the decimal point, with empty rows after them for the pupils. Commas, spaces and apostrophes between digits are ignored, and a number with more digits than the chart has places is named and left out. The numbers stay in your browser and are never put in a link.
How many places can it show?
From the ones alone up to the hundred billions, or up to the ten crores in the Indian system, and up to three decimal places. Fewer columns print larger: a chart to the thousands is good for the first years of school, one to the millions with tenths and hundredths for later ones.
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