Sharmi compared four hundred thirty-seven point two nine one and eighty-six point five eight two six and provided the explanation below. Explain what she did wrong and provide the correct solution and explanation. In four hundred thirty-seven point two nine one., the first digit is a 4. In eighty-six point five eight two six., the first digit is an 8. Since 4 is less than 8, the correct answer is less than or equal to.

Question

anonymous · Answer

sorry king i sis not realize that i closed the question what was the question u asked

kinggeorge · Answer

As long as it was an accident, no worries. Now can you write out the numbers here?

anonymous · Answer

well beacuse i think u can like round it i am not sure

anonymous · Answer

equil to

kinggeorge · Answer

If you write out the numbers, it'll definitely help. Just type them out or write them on a piece of paper.

anonymous · Answer

okay i did what did what do i do now

kinggeorge · Answer

Now, when you look at the numbers, which one is bigger and which is smaller?

anonymous · Answer

the bigger one is 437.291 and the smaller one is 86.5826

anonymous · Answer

true

kinggeorge · Answer

Right! So why did you say that? What makes 437.291 greater than 86.5826?

anonymous · Answer

well what do u mean

kinggeorge · Answer

When you compared 437.291and 86.5826, how did you tell that 437.291>86.5826?

anonymous · Answer

becaute that 437.291 is a larger quanity than 86.5826
so as you see above is exacly corect

anonymous · Answer

well beacsause if u would estimate it it would be 437 and if u estimate the other one is 81

kinggeorge · Answer

Ok, then what makes 437 greater than 81?

anonymous · Answer

cause there is a 3 digit number and only 2 digit number so that is what make it bigger

kinggeorge · Answer

Right! So now that you have that, why is it wrong to say $87>437$ because $8>7$?

anonymous · Answer

well that is true but i really dont know

kinggeorge · Answer

You're so close!

you say 437>87 because there's three digits. Sharmi said $437<87$ because it starts with an 8 and $8>4$. 

Sharmi's reasoning is wrong, because he isn't considering the length of the number. How many digits are before the decimal point. This is what you must consider before anything else when deciding some number is greater/less than another number.

anonymous · Answer

oh

anonymous · Answer

so  ow what happen

kinggeorge · Answer

what do you mean?

anonymous · Answer

so we done

kinggeorge · Answer

Yes. Did my explanation make sense at the end?

anonymous · Answer

yes thank u so much

kinggeorge · Answer

You're welcome.