Class 4 · Mathematics
Large numbers
📘 Chapter notes
The key ideas of this chapter, answered through the six guiding questions. Read them with your textbook.
1What am I looking at?
Answer: Numbers up to lakhs: reading, writing, comparing and rounding.
2What are its main parts or ideas?
Answer: Indian place value: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, lakhs (1,00,000).
3How does it work?
Answer: Put commas in the Indian system (1,23,456) and compare digits from the left.
4Why is it important?
Answer: Populations, distances and prices need large numbers.
5What happens if something changes?
Answer: Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000 gives quick estimates.
6What should I remember for the exam?
Answer: Number names, place value of a digit, comparison and rounding off.
📗 Full lesson: Place value and large numbers
This topic comes from GayaGnan's India-wide K–12 catalog. It is not copied from, or an official chapter of, any board's textbook: check your board's syllabus for the exact chapter and depth. Open as its own page →
🧊 3D / visual
🧊 3D
ℹ️ Columns are equal width for readability.
🎯 Learning outcomes
- Read and write numbers up to lakhs in the Indian and international systems
- Explain the place value and face value of a digit
- Compare, order and round large numbers
Before you start: Tens and ones; numbers up to 1000.
📖 Explanation
Each place is ten times the place to its right: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, lakhs. In 4,52,316 the digit 5 is in the ten-thousands place, so its place value is 50,000; its face value is just 5.
In the Indian system we put commas after the hundreds and then after every two digits: 4,52,316 is read four lakh fifty-two thousand three hundred sixteen. In the international system commas come every three digits: 452,316, read four hundred fifty-two thousand three hundred sixteen. 1 lakh = 100 thousand.
To compare large numbers, first count the digits; if equal, compare digit by digit from the left. To round to the nearest thousand, look at the hundreds digit: 5 or more rounds up.
The population of a town might be written as 3,48,960. Rounded to the nearest thousand it is about 3,49,000, which is easier to say in a news report.
✗ The number with the bigger first digit is always larger, so 9,999 > 10,000
✓ Count the digits first: 10,000 has five digits and 9,999 has four, so 10,000 is larger.
🧪 Try this activity
Write a 6-digit number on cards, one digit per card. Swap cards to make the largest and smallest possible numbers and read them aloud in the Indian system.
✍️ Question bank with answers
Tap an option to check multiple-choice answers. Open “Answer” or “Marking points” for the others.
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What is the place value of 7 in 2,73,415?
Answer
B. 70,000
7 is in the ten-thousands place, so its value is 7 × 10,000 = 70,000.
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How is 6,05,020 read?
Answer
C. six lakh five thousand twenty
6 lakh, 05 thousand, 020: six lakh five thousand twenty.
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38,472 rounded to the nearest thousand is
Answer
C. 38,000
The hundreds digit is 4, which is less than 5, so round down to 38,000.
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Write one lakh in figures.
Answer
1,00,000
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What is the face value of 8 in 58,203?
Answer
8
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Write 7,30,906 in the international system and in words.
Marking points
- 730,906
- seven hundred thirty thousand nine hundred six
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Arrange 45,302; 4,53,020; 45,230; 4,35,200 in ascending order and explain.
Marking points
- Five-digit numbers are smaller than six-digit numbers
- 45,230 < 45,302 (compare tens place)
- 4,35,200 < 4,53,020 (compare ten-thousands place)
- Order: 45,230; 45,302; 4,35,200; 4,53,020
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A stadium has 52,480 seats. A newspaper says 'about 50,000 seats'. To which place did it round?
Answer
- Nearest ten thousand
- 52,480 is nearer 50,000 than 60,000
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Draw a place-value chart and place the number 3,08,451.
Answer
- Columns L, TTh, Th, H, T, O
- Digits 3, 0, 8, 4, 5, 1 in order
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Find the difference between the place values of the two 4s in 4,24,316.
Answer
- The first 4 is 4,00,000
- The second 4 is 4,000
- Difference = 3,96,000
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