4.NF.6: Write Tenths and Hundredths as Decimals
Also written as 4.NF.C.6 and CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NF.C.6 · Cluster: Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions.
The Official Wording
Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100. For example, rewrite 0.62 as 62/100; describe a length as 0.62 meters; locate 0.62 on a number line diagram.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 4, Number & Operations: Fractions · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What 4.NF.6 Means in Plain English
Fourth graders write 0.4 for 4/10 and 0.38 for 38/100, read both aloud as fractions (“thirty-eight hundredths”), and use them as real measurements: a pencil is 0.17 meters long. They also find 0.38 on a number line, between 0.3 and 0.4.
In 4th grade a decimal is just another way to write tenths and hundredths, so a model always sits behind it. In 5th grade place value stretches to thousandths (5.NBT.3), and students add and subtract decimals (5.NBT.7).
4.NF.6 I Can Statements
- I can write a fraction like 38/100 as the decimal 0.38.
- I can read a decimal aloud as tenths or hundredths.
- I can place a decimal like 0.38 on a number line.
4.NF.6 Worked Example
A plant measured in hundredths of a meter, written as a decimal and then found on a number line.
Ana’s bean plant is 47/100 of a meter tall. Write the height as a decimal, then mark it on a number line from 0 to 1 meter.
- 47/100 has a denominator of 100, so it is 47 hundredths. Hundredths take two places after the decimal point.47/100 = 0.47
- Read it like the fraction: forty-seven hundredths. The 4 sits in the tenths place and the 7 in the hundredths place.0.47 = 4 tenths + 7 hundredths = 40/100 + 7/100
- On a line from 0 to 1 marked in tenths, the plant is past 4 tenths but not yet at 5 tenths.0.4 < 0.47 < 0.5
- Split the space between 0.4 and 0.5 into 10 hundredths and count 7 small ticks past 0.4.0.41, 0.42, 0.43, 0.44, 0.45, 0.46, 0.47
Check it: A meter is 100 centimeters, so 0.47 m is 47 cm. On a meter stick that is just short of the halfway mark at 50 cm, where the number line put it.
Common Mistakes with 4.NF.6
Writing 0.7 for 7/100
7/100 = 0.7
Try this: Read the decimal aloud: 0.7 is seven tenths, not seven hundredths. Hundredths need two places, so 7/100 is written 0.07.
Placing hundredths on a tenths line
0.47 marked at the 7th tick of a 0 to 1 line split into tenths, which is 0.7
Try this: Find 0.4 first, since the 4 means tenths. Then split the gap to 0.5 into ten parts and count 7 small ticks.
Saying “point forty-seven” with no size attached
Reading 0.47 aloud correctly but not knowing whether it is more or less than a half
Try this: Insist on the fraction name: forty-seven hundredths. Saying the unit tells students the size and connects 0.47 back to 47/100.
Where 4.NF.6 Fits
Practice 4.NF.6
Quick Check
- Write 9/100 as a decimal.
- Write 0.6 as a fraction with a denominator of 100.
- Between which two tenths does 0.83 sit on a number line?