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Grade 5 Math · Level 1, Place Value & Powers of 10

Powers of 10 & Decimal Shifts

How the lesson starts: Powers of 10 & Decimal Shifts

1. Nova's Zoom Ray

   Meet Nova, the inventor! Her Zoom Ray makes toys 10 times bigger, or 100 times bigger. Her toy car is 4.7 centimeters long. Zap it with the times 10 ray, and how long is it? Let's find out!

2. Ray settings

   The ray's settings are powers of 10. 10 × 10 is 10², which is 100. 10 × 10 × 10 is 10³, which is 1,000. The little number, the exponent, counts how many tens you multiply. It counts the zeros too!

3. Zap the toy car

   Zap 4.7 × 10. Each digit slides one place left. The 4 moves from ones to tens. The 7 moves from tenths to ones. So 4.7 × 10 = 47. For a whole number like 47 × 100, the digits slide two places, and zeros fill in: 4,700.