Which Number Wins? Comparing and Ordering Numbers

Imagine five friends each pick a number. The friend with the biggest number wins the race! Here are their numbers: 34, 17, 52, 8, 41. Just by looking, which number do you think is the biggest? Which is the smallest? Hold those guesses in your head — by the end of this lesson you will know exactly how to check.

When we compare numbers, we find out which one is greater (bigger), which is smaller, or whether they are equal (exactly the same). We use three special symbols to show this: • > means 'is greater than'. Example: 9 > 5 means '9 is greater than 5'. • < means 'is less than'. Example: 3 < 7 means '3 is less than 7'. • = means 'is equal to'. Example: 6 = 6 means '6 is equal to 6'. A handy trick: imagine the symbol is a hungry crocodile mouth. The open side always faces the bigger number, because the crocodile wants to eat the larger meal! Comparing two-digit numbers is easy if you use place value. Place value means each digit's position tells you how much it is worth. In a two-digit number, the tens digit (the left digit) is worth more. So compare the tens first: • If the tens are different, the bigger tens digit wins. • If the tens are the same, look at the ones digit. Ordering numbers means putting a list of numbers in a line from smallest to largest (ascending order) or from largest to smallest (descending order).