Teacher: Today, we are going to be video chatting with John Napier.

He was a mathematician during the

late 1500s, and he was one of the first people to start using the decimal point commonly.
*Start YouTube Video
Teacher: Hi Mr. Napier, can you hear me well?
John: Oh, yes, hello class!
Teacher: Thank you so much for taking the time to video chat with us today.
John: Its my pleasure! Im always excited to discuss my mathematical observations.
Teacher: Well, I have heard that you were one of the first to advocate for the use of the decimal point.
John: Yes! In older times, some people used a comma, and others used a bar notation across the tenths
place. But I always thought the point that you use now was much more effective.
Teacher: Wow, that is very interesting. I was wondering if you could help explain how to compare
numbers with decimals.
John: Of course! You know I mentioned the tenths place before, right? Well place value is the most
important part of comparing numbers. Class, do you all remember place value?...
John: Well, Ill go over it quickly just in case someone has forgotten. Lets look at the number 123.456.
The 1 is in the hundreds place, the 2 is in the tens place, and the 3 is in the ones place. Then we have the
decimal point behind the ones place. After the decimal point, the tenths place has the digit 4, the 5 is in
the hundredths, and the 6 is in the thousandths place.
Teacher: So when we compare numbers with decimals, we look at place value?
John: Exactly! You look at the greatest place value digit you have and compare the same place value in
the other number.
Teacher: So if I had 0.25 and 0.5, which would be the least?
John: Since you have zeros in the ones place, we can go over to the tenths place. Since 2 is less than 5,
0.25 would be smaller than 0.5.
Teacher: Alright! Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us!
John: Anytime! Have a great evening!