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Contributor: Elephango Editors. Lesson ID: 10230
Blast off into the world of big numbers! Explore place value up to trillions, crack space puzzles, and solve real-world challenges. Get ready to think big and save the mission!
Imagine this: You’re the commander of a space station orbiting Earth. Suddenly, your ship’s communications go silent, and Mission Control is trying to pinpoint your exact location using satellites.
They call out distances: “10,000,000 miles!” “100,000,000 miles!” “1,000,000,000 miles!”
It’s up to you to tell them if their guesses are too high, too low, or spot on. But to do that, you need to be a master of large numbers and place value.
Making Sense of Large Numbers
To understand large numbers, you need to revisit a skill you’ve learned before: place value.
Place value helps you figure out what a number means based on where each digit is located. It’s like solving a puzzle, with each piece fitting into a specific column.
Here’s a quick refresher.
Standard Form: the way numbers are usually written — 10,000,000
Word Form: writing numbers out in words — ten million
Numerical-Word Form: a mix of the two — 10 million
Now, go beyond the thousands and millions you already know. Meet the billions and trillions.
Billions: 1,000,000,000 (One billion has nine zeros.)
Trillions: 1,000,000,000,000 (One trillion has twelve zeros!)
Think about it: Understanding place value helps scientists measure distances in space, manage money, and even predict weather patterns.
So, mastering this skill makes you ready for real-life missions—on Earth and beyond!
Head to the Got It? section to practice your skills!
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