Millions chart — free printable diagram

How to read a millions to ones place-value chart

This is a blank place-value chart with 7 columns: Millions · Hundred Thousands · Ten Thousands · Thousands · Hundreds · Tens · Ones. One digit goes in each column, and each column is worth ten times the column to its right, so the position of a digit is what decides its value.

Columns

7

Column headings

Millions · Hundred Thousands · Ten Thousands · Thousands · Hundreds · Tens · Ones

Largest column

Millions — one counter there is worth 1,000,000

Smallest column

Ones — one counter there is worth 1

Biggest number it holds

9,999,999

Each column compared with its neighbour

Ten times the column to its right

• A place-value chart is read right to left, and each column is worth ten times the one to its right: millions = 1,000,000, hundred thousands = 100,000, ten thousands = 10,000, thousands = 1,000, hundreds = 100, tens = 10, ones = 1. The digit tells you how many; the column tells you how much each one is worth.
• Writing a number into the chart means putting one digit in each column. For 3,042 that is 3 in the thousands, 0 in the hundreds, 4 in the tens and 2 in the ones — so the 3 is worth 3,000, not 3.
• The zero is the column that teaches the chart. A zero in a column means there is nothing of that size, but it still has to be written, because it is what holds the other digits in their places.
• This chart stops at the ones column, so the largest number it can hold is 9,999,999 — a 9 in all 7 columns. A number bigger than that needs a chart with more columns on the left.