Place Value
Set your feet then set your goals.
I always hear words and phrases that have specific meanings in our day to day world and interpret them as something else entirely. I find interest in reimagining names and what they can mean.
A recent example is a math term that came home in my second grader’s “Wednesday folder.” There was a worksheet telling the parents that they would be working on “place value.” My second grader already understood numbers very well, so she didn’t have any trouble with the math concept.
But for me? I struggled with this name for a few days. Not the math concept, but the words in that order.
If you’re wondering at this point about “place value,” the definition I found online is as follows:
Place value: the numerical value that a digit has by virtue of its position in a number.
Got it?
In a number, the first number to the left of the decimal is the one’s column. The next number is the ten’s column, and the third number is in the hundred’s column on into infinity. Thousands, ten thousand, and so forth.
This simple math phrase has been tickling the back of my mind for a couple of days. Now I find the promise of more meaning behind the words.
