MATH04L02: Comparing and Ordering Whole Numbers
OBJECTIVES
Compare numbers up to millions
Arrange numbers in ascending and descending orders
LESSON PREREQUISITE
None.
LESSON PROPER
Comparing Numbers
In comparing numbers, see first how many digits are there in the numbers you are comparing. The number with more digits will always be greater than the number with fewer digits.
Examples:
2 306 is greater than 306
12 365 is greater than 2 365
111 111 is greater than 99 999
For numbers with the equal numbers of digits, you compare their leftmost digits, or the digits in the highest place values. If the first digits are the same, then you go on to compare the next digits to the right.
Examples
98 645 is greater than 89 654
70 000 is greater than 69 999
77 890 is greater than 76 890
77 890 is greater than 77 799
345 678 is greater than 345 599
Arranging Numbers
In arranging numbers in ascending or descending order, it is best to pick out
first the greatest and the least numbers. To determine the arrangement of the middle numbers, you’ll have to do pair-by- pair comparisons of the numbers.
Example:
Arrange the following numbers in descending order:
541 35 221 12 321 765 13 214 002
The numbers have different numbers of digits. You can easily see that
the two least numbers are:
35 221 541
As for the two long numbers, both with 8 digits, you’ll have to
compare the leftmost digits.
12 321 765 is less than 13 214 002
Therefore, the arrangement in descending order is:
13 214 002 12 321 765 35 221 541