Skill: Identify decimal place values

A digit’s place value depends on its position relative to the decimal point.

• To the left: hundreds, tens, ones
• To the right: tenths, hundredths, thousandths

Each place to the right is one-tenth of the place before it.

Example

What is the value of the digit $5$ in $(407.305)$?

1. Find the decimal point:

$$407.305$$

2. Name the places from the decimal point:

$$\underbrace{4}_{\text{hundreds}} \underbrace{0}_{\text{tens}} \underbrace{7}_{\text{ones}}. \underbrace{3}_{\text{tenths}} \underbrace{0}_{\text{hundredths}} \underbrace{5}_{\text{thousandths}}$$

3. The digit $5$ is in the thousandths place.

4. Therefore, its value is:

$$5\text{ thousandths} = 0.005$$

The digit is $5$, but the value of the digit is $\boxed{0.005}$. The zeros hold their places so that the $5$ is correctly identified as thousandths, not hundredths.