CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.A.1
The Standard
Recognize that in a multi-digit whole number, a digit in one place represents ten times what it represents in the place to its right.
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics · Number and Operations in Base Ten
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare the values of the same digit when it appears in neighboring places. They explain the relationship using place-value language, multiplication, and division.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify the value of repeated digits in different places and compare those values correctly. They can write multiplication or division equations, such as 4,000 = 10 × 400, and explain why they work.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say a digit becomes ten times larger because a zero was added, without connecting the change to place value. They may also compare the digits themselves instead of their values, or confuse ten times as much with ten more.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In 6,600, how does the value of the left 6 compare with the value of the right 6? Write an equation and explain.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build 4,440 with place-value disks, then compare matching digits in adjacent places by trading one disk for ten smaller disks.
Discuss this prompt: In 5,500, why is the first 5 worth ten times the second 5?
Play Ten Times Match by pairing cards such as 80 and 800, then stating a multiplication and division equation.
Compare prices of $70 and $700, then explain how place value shows that one price is ten times the other.
Free download
Printable 4.NBT.A.1 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.A.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Number & Operations in Base Ten progression map.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.A.1
Understanding digits as hundreds, tens, and ones is necessary before seeing each place as ten times the place to its right.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.A.1a
Seeing 100 as ten tens is the concrete case of the ten-times place-value relationship used with larger numbers.
- CCSS.Math.Content.2.NBT.A.2
Skip-counting by 10s and 100s supports seeing place values as repeated groups, preparing for ten-times place relationships.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
- CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.B.5
Understanding each place as ten times the next supports regrouping and place shifts in the multi-digit multiplication algorithm.
- CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.A.1
Understanding each place as ten times the one to its right is the core idea extended to leftward tenths relationships.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.A.3
Rounding to any place uses understanding of place positions and how each digit's value changes by powers of ten.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NF.C.6
Base-ten place value patterns carry over when students read tenths and hundredths as decimal places to the right of ones.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.B.4
Understanding each place is ten times the next supports regrouping and aligning digits in multi-digit addition and subtraction.
- CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.B.5
Multi-digit multiplication by place value requires knowing each digit’s value and how moving left changes units by a factor of ten.
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