Decimals are a very necessary part of the math curriculum. That is rightly so, global financial markets are built on the system. If you were around when it was fraction, main what a pain! When performing basic operations with decimals, it is important to follow a natural progression through the skills. I always like to start off with the easiest of the operations (addition). This is a nice way to remind students to concentrate on the specific place values. Subtract usually follows that skill followed by multiplication where the biggest problem is remembering where the decimal point goes. Division is simple task when you teach students to just keep multiplying the entire expression by 10 until there are no more decimal points. This is where students will run into negative decimals for the first time. We highly suggest you start by using a number line to show the movement of value when confronted with negative decimals.
This section can be used as a nice way to review and spot any difficulties that you may have with operations. If you spot any rough patches, consider going back and reviewing that worksheet topic on our site. If multiple levels are giving you trouble, skip back to place values. It is imperative that you have a solid understanding of them before you attempt this topic. These worksheets explain how to add and subtract decimals. This section of worksheets has decimals undergo addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We expand to word problems involving these operations. It is important that students focus on what is being asked of them in each of the word problems. Students will also balance equations and use columns.