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Myriora Maths › Maths foundations › Chapter 7: Order of operations and powers

Powers of ten

Ages 9–11Chapter 7 · Lesson 4

In this lesson

Your turn

What is four times ten to the power of three?

Show the answer

Ten to the power of three is a thousand. And four times a thousand is four thousand. It isn't twelve: that's four times three!

The common mistake

Here's a question that catches lots of people. What is ten to the power of three? Some people say thirty, because they do ten times three. But it's three tens, multiplied: ten times ten times ten is one thousand!

Try it at home

Find the biggest number on a food packet or in the news. How many zeros does it have? Write it as a power of ten.

Read the whole lesson

Hello, and welcome to Myriora Maths! Ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million. These numbers are all made of tens, multiplied together. They're called powers of ten. Let's see why they're so useful.

Ten to the power of one is just ten. Ten to the power of two is ten times ten: one hundred. Ten to the power of three is ten times ten times ten: one thousand. Each time, we multiply by ten once more.

Now look at the zeros. Ten to the power of two has two zeros. Ten to the power of three has three zeros. The power tells you how many zeros come after the one! So ten to the power of six is a one with six zeros: one million.

Why does this work? Every time you multiply by ten, the digits move one place to the left. A new zero fills the empty ones place. So each ten adds one more zero.

Some powers of ten have names. Ten to the power of three is a thousand. Ten to the power of six is a million. And ten to the power of nine is a billion: that's a thousand millions!

Scientists use powers of ten to write very big numbers quickly. Five times ten to the power of three is five times a thousand: five thousand. Three times ten to the power of six is three million. That's much quicker than writing all those zeros!

Let's try one together. How many zeros does ten to the power of five have? And what number is it? Say it out loud!

Five zeros! A one with five zeros is one hundred thousand.

Here's a question that catches lots of people. What is ten to the power of three? Some people say thirty, because they do ten times three. But it's three tens, multiplied: ten times ten times ten is one thousand!

Your turn! What is four times ten to the power of three? Pick the right card. You've got twenty seconds, or pause the video. Go!

Time's up! Ten to the power of three is a thousand. And four times a thousand is four thousand. It isn't twelve: that's four times three!

Quick review. Powers of ten are tens multiplied together. The power tells you how many zeros come after the one. A thousand is ten to the power of three, and a million is ten to the power of six. And they help us write very big numbers quickly. See you next time!