RemeliaMaths Year 5 Number & place value
Year 5 place value: six questions and the common mistakes
Under each answer are the wrong answers a child often gives to it, six different mistakes on this page, and what Remelia tells the child who gives one.
Questions written by Remelia for the objectives of the national curriculum for England; not taken from any test paper.
Six questions
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Amara says: In 637,578, the hundred thousands digit is worth 6.
Is Amara right? Write the correct answer, not just yes or no.
Show the answer to question 1
Answer: 600,000 · "No, 600,000" is right too; "No" on its own scores nothing
Why:
The digit is 6 in the hundred thousands column: 6 × 100,000 = 600,000.
Amara's answer was not right: the correct answer is 600000.
Common mistakes:
- 6: That is the digit, not its value. A digit’s value is the digit multiplied by the column it sits in.
- 8: That is the value of a different digit. Count the columns again from the right: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands.
- 6,000,000: Your digits are right, but in the wrong columns: your answer is 10 times too big.
- 60,000: Your digits are right, but in the wrong columns: your answer is 10 times too small.
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The table shows the lowest and highest temperatures in four cities one day in January.
Which city had the lowest temperature of all?
Temperatures in °C one day in January City Lowest Highest Helsinki −14 −6 Warsaw −10 −1 Moscow −7 −3 Oslo −2 1 - A Moscow
- B Helsinki
- C Warsaw
- D Oslo
Show the answer to question 2
Answer: B · Helsinki
Why:
The lowest temperatures are −14, −10, −7, −2. Below zero, the bigger the number after the minus, the colder: −14°C in Helsinki.
Common mistakes:
- D · Oslo: It looks as if you compared the numbers after the minus signs. Below zero it goes the other way: the bigger the number after the minus, the colder it is, so −8°C is colder than −3°C, and colder than any temperature above 0.
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Round 50,182 to the nearest 100.
Show the answer to question 3
Answer: 50,200
Why:
Find the 100 column, then look at the digit immediately to its right: 5 or more rounds up. → 50,200
Common mistakes:
- 50,282: It looks as if you changed the digit you were rounding and kept the digits after it. When you round, every digit to the right of that column becomes 0.
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Ivan says: In 179,231, the ten thousands digit is worth 7.
Is Ivan right? Write the correct answer, not just yes or no.
Show the answer to question 4
Answer: 70,000 · "No, 70,000" is right too; "No" on its own scores nothing
Why:
The digit is 7 in the ten thousands column: 7 × 10,000 = 70,000.
Ivan's answer was not right: the correct answer is 70000.
Common mistakes:
- 7: That is the digit, not its value. A digit’s value is the digit multiplied by the column it sits in.
- 1: That is the value of a different digit. Count the columns again from the right: ones, tens, hundreds, thousands.
- 700,000: Your digits are right, but in the wrong columns: your answer is 10 times too big.
- 7,000: Your digits are right, but in the wrong columns: your answer is 10 times too small.
-
The table shows the lowest and highest temperatures in four cities one day in January.
Which city had the lowest temperature of all?
Temperatures in °C one day in January City Lowest Highest Moscow −3 0 Helsinki −4 −1 Oslo −8 2 Warsaw −2 1 - A Oslo
- B Moscow
- C Warsaw
- D Helsinki
Show the answer to question 5
Answer: A · Oslo
Why:
The lowest temperatures are −3, −4, −8, −2. Below zero, the bigger the number after the minus, the colder: −8°C in Oslo.
Common mistakes:
- C · Warsaw: It looks as if you compared the numbers after the minus signs. Below zero it goes the other way: the bigger the number after the minus, the colder it is, so −8°C is colder than −3°C, and colder than any temperature above 0.
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Round 52,998 to the nearest 100,000.
- A 50,000
- B 150,000
- C 100,000
- D 1,000,000
Show the answer to question 6
Answer: C · 100,000
Why:
Find the 100,000 column, then look at the digit immediately to its right: 5 or more rounds up. → 100,000
Common mistakes:
- 152,998: It looks as if you changed the digit you were rounding and kept the digits after it. When you round, every digit to the right of that column becomes 0.
Answers
- 1. 600,000 · "No, 600,000" is right too; "No" on its own scores nothing
- 2. B · Helsinki
- 3. 50,200
- 4. 70,000 · "No, 70,000" is right too; "No" on its own scores nothing
- 5. A · Oslo
- 6. C · 100,000
How Remelia uses a mistake
When a wrong answer matches one of these mistakes, the app says what the child seems to have done before they try again, and brings the objective back on a later day.
Remelia practises maths for the child's own year group, in short sessions, and brings back on later days what they got wrong.