Chapter 4: Thousands Around Us

How many people watch a cricket match? How many kilometres is Delhi from Chennai? The answers are big , they live in the land of thousands!

What we'll learn

• Read and write numbers up to 99,999.
• Understand the place value of each digit.
• Compare and order big numbers.
• Peek at lakhs to see how the Indian system grows.

The big idea

Numbers grow in steps of ten. Ten ones make a ten. Ten tens make a hundred. Ten hundreds make a thousand. Ten thousands make ten-thousand. And ten ten-thousands make a lakh!

A number like 4,768 has 4 thousands, 7 hundreds, 6 tens and 8 ones. We can split it:

4,768 = 4000 + 700 + 60 + 8.

This is called expanded form. Each digit has a value depending on its place.

The bigger a number, the further left its digits go. In 23,506, the digit 2 is in the ten-thousands place, so it stands for 20,000, not just 2.

In the Indian system, we use commas like this: 1,23,456 , a comma after the first 3 digits from the right, then after every 2 digits. So one lakh is written 1,00,000.

To compare big numbers, look at how many digits each one has. A 5-digit number is always bigger than a 4-digit number. If digits are the same in count, compare from the leftmost digit.

Explore with examples

1. Write 47,025 in expanded form.

47,025 = 40,000 + 7,000 + 0 + 20 + 5.

2. Which is bigger: 8,932 or 12,005?

12,005 has 5 digits, 8,932 has 4 digits. So 12,005 is bigger.

3. The crowd at a cricket stadium is 67,489. What is the place value of 7?

The 7 is in the thousands place, so its value is 7,000.

4. Write "thirty-five thousand two hundred ten" in digits.

= 35,210.

Hands-on activities

Big Number Cards

Cut 10 small cards. Write digits 0–9. Pick 4 cards at random and arrange them to make the biggest possible number and the smallest possible number. Find the difference.

Crowd Estimator

Imagine your school assembly has 200 students. How many such assemblies make 1,000 students? How many make 10,000? Discuss with a friend.

Distance Diary

Note distances between cities: Delhi to Mumbai ≈ 1,400 km, Chennai to Kolkata ≈ 1,670 km. List 5 such pairs. Which is the longest?

Try it yourself

1. Write 67,008 in expanded form.
2. Write in figures: forty-two thousand six hundred.
3. Which is greater: 9,999 or 10,001?
4. Arrange in ascending order: 23,456 / 23,654 / 23,465.
5. Form the smallest 5-digit number using 3, 0, 7, 1, 9 (no repeats).
6. What is the place value of 5 in 35,872?
7. One lakh is how many thousands?

Recap

• 1 thousand = 10 hundreds; 1 lakh = 100 thousands.
• Each digit has a place value depending on its position.
• The Indian system uses commas after the thousands, then after every two digits.
• Compare numbers by digit count first, then digit by digit from the left.