Number symbols

Number symbols

Pencil and paper
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This task is about place value of numbers.

Some friends use these secret symbols for their numbers

  
1

  
10

  
100

  
1,000

  
10,000

Example: 513 is

Write the numbers below using the secret symbols.

 

a) 2,430
   
 
 
 
 
b) 13,124
   
 
 
 
 
c) 40,000
   
 
 
 
 
d) 20,301
   
 
 
 
 
Task administration: 
This task is completed with pencil and paper only.
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
Maths, Number and Algebra, Number Knowledge
Keywords: 
place value, whole numbers
Description of task: 
Students write whole numbers that are written using secret symbols for 1, 10, 100 and 1,000.
Answers/responses: 
  Y6 (11/2003)
a)   easy
b)   moderate
c)   easy
d)   easy

NOTE: This links to the powers of 10 used in our base-10 number system.

  • 1 line stands for 10 which can be written as 101
  • 2 lines stands for 100 which can be written as 10 × 10 = 102
  • 3 lines stands for 1,000 which can be written as 10 × 10 × 10 = 103
  • 4 lines stands for 10,000 which can be written as 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 = 104
  • 0 lines stands for 1 which can be written as 100

Each of the secret symbols are linked to the base-10 notation 10n = 10 × 10 × … × 10.
(= 1 with n 0's after it), where n = number of lines in each symbol. These are Level 4 concepts.)