A ten is understood as a unit composed of ten ones, so it can be exchanged for 10 individual ones without changing the quantity; this relationship can be shown with place-value blocks, drawings, or equations such as . This equivalence supports regrouping when adding or subtracting whole numbers, while decomposing hundreds or developing more general base-system concepts is outside this scope.
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A ten is the same as 10 ones:
When you decompose a ten, you trade one ten for 10 individual ones. The amount stays the same.
Example: Decompose 14.
Write 14 as 1 ten and 4 ones:
Trade the 1 ten for 10 ones:
Add the new 10 ones to the 4 ones:
So, 14 can be shown as:
The number is still 14 because you only exchanged one ten for the 10 ones that make up that ten.
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