Maths Vocabulary

When a digit is put in a different column it changes its value.   

For example, in the number 4,532 the 4 digit is worth a 4 thousand, whereas in 3,204 the 4 digit has a value of 4 ones.     

By the time children reach the end of primary school, they are expected to know the place value of whole numbers from Ones to Millions and decimals from tenths (0.1) to thousandths (0.001) with fraction and percentage equivalence.    

Place value charts and tables are used to explore what each digit in a number is worth.  Our plavalmat® place value mats are a longer lasting, multi-functional and a more engaging alternative to teacher-made place value worksheets and resources.

 A digit simply means any of these symbols: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ,7, 8, 9.  Whereas a number is an amount/quantity which can be written with one or more digits.   

For example a single digit number could be any ‘number’ between 0 and 9.   

A two-digit number, such as 23, has a digit in the tens column and a digit in the ones column.  23 consists of two tens and three ones making the number twenty three.   

A three-digit number, such as 465, has a digit in the hundreds column (in this example a 4), a digit in the tens column (in this example a 6) and a digit in the ones column (in this example a 5) forming the number four hundred and sixty five.     

Integers are a specific type of number so just think of them as a sub-category of numbers.  As long as a number is a whole number it can also be called an integer.  It could even be a negative number.  

For example:  0, -3 and 17 are all examples of integers 2.5 and 3/5 (commonly known as decimals and fractions), are NOT integers as they are not WHOLE numbers.  

In the past, many adults were taught at school to use the terms Hundreds, Tens and Units (HTU) when working with 3-digit numbers.  However, since the introduction of the 2014 maths curriculum, children are now taught Hundreds, Tens and Ones (HTO).  

New maths schemes of learning commonly used in primary schools, for example White Rose Maths and Power Maths, all use the vocabulary of ones not units. 

Place Value Counters and Base Ten are commonly used in primary schools to explore the value of HTOs.  These can be used in conjunction with our plavalmat® place value mats which are all colour-coded to be match to White Rose and Power Maths books and resources.

FOR CONSISTENCY 

Using the term ‘ones’ is more in line with the other place value columns e.g. thousands, hundreds and tens.  

TO AVOID CONFUSION 

In measurement, children use the term ‘units of measurement’ and recognise these as mm, cm, mm, m, ml, l, g, kg etc.  Clearly distinguishing between ones and units helps to prevent children distinguish between the two.

In England, children would learn that these are worth the same as 15 x hundreds would make the number 1,500. This is linked with understanding the base ten system:  

10 x ones = 1 x ten 

10 x tens = 1 x hundred 

10 x hundred = 1 thousand 

10 x thousand = 1 hundred thousand 

10 x Hundred Thousands = 1 million  

Equipment such as Base Ten (also known as Base 10 or Dienes) used in conjunction with place value mats or charts are really useful to for children to visualise how each value is ten time larger than the last.

This is where numbers are broken up or separated in to smaller parts.    

For example, the number 916 (nine hundred and sixteen) is made up of 

9 x Hundreds

1 x Ten

and 6 x Ones

Maths manipulatives such as Base Ten and place value counters are staple resources in primary classrooms to explore this concept.  

Children can then use partitioning to help them to solve maths problems such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.     

We found this useful video on BBC bitesize which explains partitioning to children.   

The purpose of a decimal point is to separate a whole number from a part of a number (less than one).   

In English speaking countries, the decimal point is represented with the symbol (.)   

For example: 7.8 is said 'seven point eight' – meaning seven whole ones with eight tenths of a whole (8 parts of the ten parts needed to make one whole)

Our plavalmat® place value mats have been specifically designed to include the decimal point to separate these from the whole numbers.  

In English speaking countries, a comma (,) is used to group every three numbers or a ‘thousand’ separator

1,000                   one Thousand (Th) 

10,000                 ten thousand  (TTh) 

100,000               one hundred thousand  (HTh) 

1,000,000            one million (M)  

In some languages, instead of a comma, you may see a full stop or a space e.g. 1.000 or 1 000 (both meaning one thousand).  

Our  have been specifically designed to include the commas in the column headings to further reinforce this concept to children.  

In maths, the four operations simply mean:

addition (+)

subtraction (-) 

multiplication (x) 

and division (÷)

Our plavalmat® place value mats, place value counters and base ten have been designed to match the colour coding used by the White Rose Maths and Power Maths schemes to support these programmes of study in Years 2-6.

The 2014 National Curriculum states that children need to be able to read and write the following in numerals and words:  

Year 1 - 1 to 20 

1 = one

2 = two

3 = three

4 = four

5 =  five 

6 = six

7= seven

8= eight 

9 = nine 

10 = ten 

11 = eleven

12 = twelve

13 = thirteen

14 = fourteen

15 = fifteen

16 = sixteen

17 = seventeen

18 = eighteen

19 = nineteen 

20 = twenty  

Year 2 – Up to 100 / one hundred  

Children would need to learn the additional spelling of the remaining tens: 

30 = thirty

40 = forty

50 = fifty

60 = sixty

70 = seventy

80 = eighty

90 = ninety

Year 3 – Up to 1000 or one thousand  

Children would just need to learn the spelling of 'hundred' and consolidate number spellings from previous years.

For example 999 nine hundred and ninety nine.

They may also learn to spell the word 'thousand'

Year 4 – Up to 10,000 or ten thousand  

Children would just need to learn the spelling of 'thousand' and consolidate number spellings from previous years.

For example 9,999 nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine.

Year 5 – Up to at least 1,000,000 or one million 

Children would consolidate spellings from previous years to form larger numbers.  

For example 99,999 ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine  

They may also learn to spell and use the word 'million'

Year 6 – Up to 10,000,000  or ten million  

Children would consolidate spellings from previous years to form even larger numbers.  

For example 9,999,999 nine million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and nine

How would you say this number?: 432

Four hundred thirty two or  Four hundred AND thirty two?  

The general rule in English speaking countries is that the term ‘and’ should only be used in numbers above 100. 

The ‘and’ goes between saying the ‘Hundreds’ and the ‘Tens’ which links them together.  

For example: 405 – four hundred and five 315 – three hundred and fifteen  

However, you don’t need to say 'and' between the thousands and one hundreds. 

Subitising is a maths skill children are taught in EYFS.  It involves children being able to recognise 'how many' of something there is without needing to count small quantities of objects.

For example, children may recognise the patterns on dice or dominoes and know what number they have rolled without counting how many dots there are.

⚀ = 1 

⚁ = 2 

⚂ = 3 

⚃ = 4 

⚄ = 5 

⚅ = 6 

Children may be able to say how many fingers are held up without counting each one.  Maths manipulatives such as numicon, rekenreks, bead strings, hungarian number frames etc can support children's learning of subitising.

It is helpful for children to practise subitising with everyday objects that are arrange slightly different ways.

For more information about subitising, you may find this article helpful:

https://nrich.maths.org/14004

Regrouping is involved in the processes of addition.  It is vital for children to understand this in order to undertake written methods of addition.

Regrouping is where numbers are combined into groups of ten.  This process involves moving place value columns.  Base ten is an excellent resource for teaching this concept.

For example if you started with 8 one cubes and then added 5 more one cubes  you would have 13 one cubes in total as 8+5=13.

However, you would not write 13 in the ones column as this is a two-digit number and each place value column only fit one digit.  

Instead, ten of the one cubes can be 'exchanged' for one ten rod.  This one ten is then put underneath the next tens column (this in old fashioned language was termed 'carrying').

'Borrowing' is the same process of re-grouping in to tens however this applies when subtracting.  

For example 10 - 3 = 7.

I need to subtract 3 one cubes from one ten rod.  

In order to do this I need to 'swap' or exchange the one ten rod for ten one cubes.  

Then I will be able to subtract three of my cubes away leaving 7.