Tens & Ones chart — free printable diagram

How to read a tens and ones place-value chart

This is a blank place-value chart with 2 columns: 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

2

Column headings

Tens · Ones

Largest column

Tens — one counter there is worth 10

Smallest column

Ones — one counter there is worth 1

Biggest number it holds

99

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: 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 42 that is 4 in the tens and 2 in the ones — so the 4 is worth 40, not 4.
• 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 99 — a 9 in all 2 columns. A number bigger than that needs a chart with more columns on the left.