Numbers to 1000 are built from hundreds, tens, and ones. 347 means 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 7 ones. Understanding how digits represent different values is the foundation for larger calculations.
Use base-ten blocks or drawings to represent three-digit numbers. Start with numbers like 100, 200, 300, then add tens and ones. Show how changing a digit in different positions changes the number's value.
You already understand that a two-digit number like 47 means 4 tens and 7 ones. Now we extend exactly that logic one step further: we add a hundreds place to the left. Just as 10 ones bundle into 1 ten, 10 tens bundle into 1 hundred. That bundling pattern is the core rule of our number system.
So 347 means 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 7 ones. You can picture this with base-ten blocks: three flat hundred-squares, four ten-rods, and seven individual cubes. The digit in each position tells you how many of that size block you have. Change the digit and you change the value — moving from 347 to 547 adds 2 more hundred-flats, making the number 200 larger.
The key insight is that position carries meaning. The same digit, 3, means something completely different depending on where it sits. In 300, the 3 means 300. In 30, the same 3 means only 30. In 3, it means 3. The digit alone is not the value — the digit combined with its place is the value. This is why the system is called place value.
The tricky case is numbers like 250 or 400. In 250, the 2 is in the hundreds place (worth 200), the 5 is in the tens place (worth 50), and the 0 in the ones place means zero ones. There are 2 hundreds and 5 tens — not 25 tens. When you see 100, remember it is just 10 tens compacted into a new level: 100 = 10 × 10. This understanding directly prepares you for adding and subtracting three-digit numbers, where you will regroup across all three place-value positions.
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