Tally Marks — 3 — free printable diagram

How do you show 3 in tally marks?

These tally marks stand for 3. They are drawn as no complete groups of five with 3 single marks left over, so counting in fives gives 3.

Number shown

3

In words

three

Groups of five

0

Single marks

3

As a sum

(5 × 0) + 3 = 3

• A tally is drawn in fives: four upright strokes, then a fifth stroke struck diagonally across them to close the group. Counting the closed groups in fives is faster and less error-prone than counting every mark.
• 3 is fewer than five, so there is no group to close — just 3 upright strokes.
• In other words 3 = (5 × 0) + 3, which is what dividing 3 by 5 tells you: 0 remainder 3.