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Decimal number

With the ten digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 we make the decimal numbers. They are used for standard computations everywhere in the world.

That is so because we have ten fingers.

 


Explanation

The number 237 is composed of

2 × 100   = 2 × 10
3 × 10    = 3 × 10
7 × 1     = 7 × 10

Because 100 is equal to 10 × 10 = 102 you can write 10 as 101, and 1 like 100. If there are digits after decimal point this continues. The power decreases, reaches less than zero, which means it becomes negative. Thus 0.1 = 10–1. The number 4267.893 is composed of

4 × 1000  = 2 × 10
2 × 100   = 2 × 10
6 × 10    = 6 × 10
7 × 1     = 7 × 10
8 × 0,1   = 8 × 10−1
9 × 0,01  = 9 × 10−2
3 × 0,001 = 3 × 10−3

Behind every digit in a number is a power of 10, that depends on its position. Because of that you must write a 0 if a certain place has no value. The number 3600.102 is composed of

3 × 1000  = 3 × 10
6 × 100   = 6 × 10
1 × 0,1   = 1 × 10−1
2 × 0,001 = 2 × 10−3

Now we understand why is

And we understand the number 1 better, as

Numbers with a negative exponent are just fractions. You see it clearly in

 


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