Start with the biggest unit. A hundred beats any number of tens.
Step 1: Let's Learn
Read it, or press Listen and follow the words.
An example
486 and 512. 4 hundreds against 5 hundreds. 512 is greater, and the other digits do not matter.
Only on a tie
If the hundreds match, compare the tens. If those match too, compare the ones.
Start from the left, always
To compare 428 and 439, look at the hundreds first: both are 4, so that tells you nothing yet. Move right to the tens: 2 against 3. Three tens beats two tens, so 439 is bigger. You never needed to look at the ones at all.
Why left first, and not right
The leftmost digits are worth the most, so a difference there settles the question by itself. One extra hundred outweighs any possible arrangement of tens and ones. Comparing from the right would mean checking every column even when the answer was decided at the first one.
A shortcut when the lengths differ
A three-digit number is always bigger than a two-digit one, because it has hundreds and the other has none. So 102 beats 99 without any digit comparison at all. This only works when there are no leading zeros, which is one more reason we never write them.
Step 2: Try It Yourself
Tap and try it out.
Left
Right
486 is less than 512.
Step 3: Watch an Example
One step at a time.
Watch Ana Compare
Ana compares 357 and 359.
- Step 1
She counts the flats: 3 each. They tie.
Step 4: Your Turn
Practice makes it stick.
Two Schools
Problem 1 of 2
One school has 428 pupils and another has 482. Which has more?
Collections
Problem 2 of 2
Leo has 199 cards and Ana has 201. Who has more?
Which Is Greater?
1 of 3
Which is greater, 623 or 632?
2 of 3
Which is greater, 405 or 398?
3 of 3
Which is greater, 771 or 717?
Step 5: Quick Check
Show what you know.
Question 1 of 2
Which is greater, 548 or 584?
Question 2 of 2
What do you compare first?
What You Learned
- Compare the hundreds first.
- Only look at the tens if the hundreds tie.
- Only look at the ones if the tens tie too.