Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
Comparing decimals involves identifying which decimal is greater than (>), less than (<) or equal to (=) the other decimal to which it is being compared.
With the knowledge of decimal place value, decimals can be compared easily.
Example 1
Put in (>, < or =)
a) 24 _____ 3.89
b) 821 _____ 24.102
c) 2 ______ 98.75
d) 2 ______ 8.4739
Solution
a) 24˃3.89
Looking at the whole numbers, 8 is larger than 3, therefore 8.24 is greater than 3.89.
b) 821 ˂ 24.102
Comparing whole numbers, 24 is greater than 16, therefore, 16.821 is less than 24.102
c) 2˃98.75
865 is greater than 98, therefore, 865.2 is greater.
d) 2˃ 8.4739
In this example, one may wonder why the number with a greater number of digits isn’t the greater decimal. However, the number of digits in a decimal does not particularly play any role in comparison if the whole numbers are different. Therefore 9.2 is greater than 8.4739.
Example 2
Compare these:
a) 2 _____ 4.9
b) 25 _____ 16.09
c) 182 ______ 6.190
d) 241 ______ 5.247
Solution
Example 3
Put in >,< or =
Solution
Unit 10 Lesson 6: Exercise 1
Compare the following decimals using >, < or =
1) 8.6 _______ 8.9 2) 2.65 ________ 3.65
3) 7.953 ________ 7.928 4) 2.976 _______ 9.5
5) 5.148 ________ 5.142 6) 19.11 _______ 19.28
7) 0.87 ________ 0.09 8) 0.47 ________ 4.07
9) 240.8 ________ 248.0 10) 0.4 ________ 0.41
Unit 10 Lesson 6: Exercise 2
Unit >, < or = to make each statement true.