Lining Up the Dot

Tenths add up like any matching pieces.

Tenths are pieces

0.3 is three tenths: cut a bar into 10 equal parts and color 3 of them. 0.4 is four tenths of the same bar.

0.30.4

Two bars, each cut into 10 equal parts: 3 tenths are colored on the first and 4 tenths on the second.

Add the pieces

To work out 0.3 + 0.4, put the colored pieces together and count them: 3 + 4 = 7. The pieces are still tenths, so the answer is 7 tenths, which is written 0.7.

It works like adding any matching things. 3 apples and 4 apples are 7 apples, and 3 tenths and 4 tenths are 7 tenths. The kind of piece does not change when you add.

0.7

The 3 tenths and the 4 tenths together color 7 of the 10 parts: 0.7.

Line up the points

Written one above the other, the decimal points line up. Then the tenths digits sit in the same column and are added to each other: 3 + 4 = 7 in the tenths column, and 0 + 0 = 0 in the ones. The point comes straight down into the answer: 0.7.

03+0407

The points are lined up, so the 3 tenths and the 4 tenths are in one column. They make 7 tenths.

Two slips

Leaving out the point gives 7. That is 7 whole bars, but only 7 tenths of one bar are colored.

Writing 0.07 turns the answer into hundredths, pieces ten times smaller. Adding tenths to tenths gives tenths, so the answer is 0.7.

Practice Lining Up the Dot in the app