Each part of a number word tells you a digit and its column. 'Three thousand and forty' is 3 in the thousands, 4 in the tens, and nothing in the hundreds or ones, so we write zeros there: 3040. Teen words say the ones first ('four-teen') but the ten is still written on the left: 14. To write a numeral in words, say each column's part, skipping zeros, with 'and' before the last tens and ones.
Explore this idea with maths tools
Maths you can move
Build 8 + 5
Tap two gold counters to fill the ten-frame.
8 in the frame + 5 waiting. The total stays the same.
Words to know
- numeral
- a number written with digits, like 3040
- place holder
- a 0 that keeps an empty column in place
Worked examples
Write "fourteen" as a numeral.
- 1.Fourteen is 1 ten and 4 ones.
- 2.The ten goes on the left.
= 14
Write "three thousand and forty" as a numeral.
- 1.3 thousands, 0 hundreds, 4 tens, 0 ones.
- 2.Fill the empty columns with 0.
= 3040
Write 306 in words.
- 1.306 is 3 hundreds, 0 tens and 6 ones.
- 2.Say the hundreds, then 'and', then the ones.
= three hundred and six
For parents
Method: Drop each spoken part into its column
What to say: Which column does that part go in? Is any column empty?
Common mistakes:
- Writes the tens and ones digits the wrong way round, especially for teens (fourteen → 41).
- Mixes up '-teen' and '-ty' numbers (fourteen and forty).
- Writes each spoken part in full, side by side (three hundred and six → 3006).
- Leaves out a zero that holds an empty column (three thousand and forty → 340).
- Names the first digit's place one column too high when reading (306 as three thousand and six).