Composing and Decomposing Numbers
The General Idea is:
3
hundreds
4
tens
9
ones
↔
349
Composing
So 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 9 ones make 349, in other words:
300 + 40 + 9 ⇒ 349
"Composing"
Example: Compose 2 hundreds, 7 tens and 9 ones.
200 + 70 + 9 = 279
Decomposing
Decomposing is when we break the number apart:
349 ⇒ 300 + 40 + 9
"Decomposing"
Example: Decompose 3,456
3,456 = 3,000 + 400 + 50 + 6
Standard and Expanded Form
Some people call the two different forms "Standard" and "Expanded":
| 349 | 300 + 40 + 9 |
| Standard Form | Expanded Form |
Example: Put 925 into Expanded Form
925 = 900 + 20 + 5
Watch Out For Zeros!
When a number has a 0 in it, we don't have to write the 0 in the expanded form, but we should remember the correct place values of the other digits.
Example: Decompose 408
408 = 400 + 8
(The 4 is in the hundreds place, so it is 400, not 40)
Decimal Numbers
We can also compose and decompose decimal numbers:
4 + 0.7 + 0.08 ⇒ 4.78
"Composing"
37.2 ⇒ 30 + 7 + 0.2
"Decomposing"
Example: Decompose 1.35
1.35 = 1 + 0.3 + 0.05