Please can you settle a maths question disagreement between my son and I?

[DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou]

Which is bigger.

0.6

Or

6.09

"Because the the tenths is greater than hundredths and the 6.09 is in the hundredths is in the hundredths column and the 0.6 is in the tenths colum."

"Whole numbers are greater than tenths, and 6.09 is in the whole numbers column."

Or in other words,

"We look at the whole numbers before we consider the tenths and hundredths."

It's definitely not shaming to ask others for help. That's how we learn!

The six in the 6.09 is in the units column.

It’s 6 units, and no tenths and 9 hundredths.

0.6 is six tenths.

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

He says "Because the the tenths is greater than hundredths and the 6.09 is in the hundredths is in the hundredths column and the 0.6 is in the tenths colum."

I'm too shit at maths to understand what this means.

All I know is that it's wrong, whatever he's saying.

Tenths are bigger than hundredths, he’s got that bit right! But “units” are bigger than both. It’s units that are immediately left of the decimal point so 6 is bigger than 0.

If it was 0.6 vs 0.09 then his argument would be right and the first is bigger. He’s just confused.

Message his teacher and ask them to explain it to him.

Maths is taught in a weird bloody way these days. I wouldn't know where to start. I don't envy you!

He says
"Because the the tenths is greater than hundredths and the 6.09 is in the hundredths is in the hundredths column and the 0.6 is in the tenths colum."

And units are greater than tenths. 6.09 has 6 units but 0.6 has zero units.
He's only thinking about the numbers to the right of the decimal point and is ignoring those on the left.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zsh4jty/revision/1 This might help with explaining place value

Would making a connection with a physical representation of 0.6 versus 6.09 help?

e.g get some cash together in divide into 3 piles

A - £1 coin = 1
B 60p (0.6 of £1)
C £6.09 (6.09 of £1).

Ask him which pile is worth more - A 0.6 or. C 6.09?

It sounds like he's caught up on one rule and is struggling to see the bigger picture (i.e. how decimal rules relate to other number rules).

There are lots of videos on this kind of thing - try Khan Academy on YouTube or BBC Bitesize.

Ok I have explained it a different way, now we have established the hundreds and hundredths confusion.

And he now see's the correct answer but is still confused as to how because he was "taught it differently"

I.e, he wasn't paying attention.
He has ADHD and sometimes loses the thread of what the teacher is explaining.

Have a look on the link I gave. It explains place value for decimals

Line the two numbers up in a column making sure the decimals are on top of each other, add a zero to the 0.6 like so.

0.60
6.09

To figure out the largest you start from the left hand side and check each column for the highest number.

So if you had 5.67 and 5.98

5.67
5.98
Both are 5. something so first column doesn't help, look at tenths column one is 6 one is 9 so the one with the 9 is the biggest.

Units are bigger than tenths. You could label the columns as well. ones/units, tenths, hundreths.

Hope that makes sense - was teaching my year 10s the same as well this week!

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

The money analogy isn't working because he thinks he and I are talking about two different things. But because I don't know how he is being taught, I can't explain the difference.

Every maths working I was taught is so different from the way he is taught.

Is he possibly arguing that ".6" is larger than ".09" (which is correct) and (for the purposes of his (correct) argument) disregarding the whole numbers?

Thanks for the help.

Is he possibly arguing that ".6" is larger than ".09" (which is correct) and (for the purposes of his (correct) argument) disregarding the whole numbers?

YES!! that's it! Thank you, I think this will help.

Ok he gets it now!!

Thank you!

(But he's checking with his teacher just in case I'm wrong )

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

He says "Because the the tenths is greater than hundredths and the 6.09 is in the hundredths is in the hundredths column and the 0.6 is in the tenths colum."

I'm too shit at maths to understand what this means.

All I know is that it's wrong, whatever he's saying.

Tell him the 10ths and 100ths don't matter if there's a whole number as well as the numbers after the decimal place.

If he's counting 10ths and 100ths get him to multiply them both by 100 so he can see which is bigger with no outstanding decimal places.

Explain to him that 6.0 is a whole number.

While 0.6 is a fraction or part of a number. He should have had fractions by now. Use the "cake" as example!

Also, if you want to write 1000, you use a comma as in 1,000 maybe he is muddled the , & . when writing numbers.

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou

Ok he gets it now!!

Thank you!

(But he's checking with his teacher just in case I'm wrong )

Yessssss. Crushed it.

One of my DDs came home aged ~8 and tried to argue that a large yoghurt pot contained less than a small one.

They had been doing capacity and had shown that just because something is taller it doesn't necessarily hold more, and she had got extremely confused.

I teach this to my Y4s. We use a place value mat and place value counters. This really helps and lots of place value work is done before the children move on to abstract decimal questions.

Now that you've sorted the maths, you can move on to SPAG. Please explain to him that following between (and other prepositions) he should say 'me'
e.g. Please help settle a disagreement is between him and me.

The pronoun I is only used for when the speaker is the subject of the sentence:
e.g. He and I have a disagreement.
Tommy and I (not me and Tommy) want to go to the park.

It's ones not units these days. Don't talk about units he won't know what you're talking about. Also don't use money as he needs to understand that one coin is worth e.g 100. Place value grids are your friend here.

@Haddawa

I teach this to my Y4s. We use a place value mat and place value counters. This really helps and lots of place value work is done before the children move on to abstract decimal questions.

I also use this method with year 4s

@tarheelbaby

Now that you've sorted the maths, you can move on to SPAG. Please explain to him that following between (and other prepositions) he should say 'me' e.g. Please help settle a disagreement is between him and me.

The pronoun I is only used for when the speaker is the subject of the sentence:
e.g. He and I have a disagreement.
Tommy and I (not me and Tommy) want to go to the park.

In my defence, my grammar is usually better but my head was pounding, DS was getting mad with me and toddler ds was clambering on I's boob for mine milk.

In y5, get him to draw out a place value chart.
Ones . Hundredths Thousandth
6 .0 9
0 .6