N2/E3.3
Decimals and money
We use decimals all the time when talking about money. The decimal point separates the pounds
from the pence. We can write amounts of money in different ways:



£10.55
ten pounds and fifty five pence
1,055 pence
To help you identify what the numbers after the decimal point mean, remember that:

100 x 1p pieces = £1
 10 x 10p pieces = £1
The first number after the decimal point means tenths. So a digit in this position represents the
number of ten pence pieces. The second number after the decimal point means hundredths.
So a digit in this position represents the number of one pence coins. £10.55 can be made up as:
To help you compare amounts of money you can use a place value table:
Amount
Ten pounds
£10
One pound
£1
.
Ten pence
10p
One pence
1p
£10.55
1
0
.
5
5
£0.35
0
.
3
5
£1.05
1
.
0
5
69p
0
.
6
9
4p
0
.
0
4
Tips





Don’t forget to use zero as a place holder; eg: one pound five pence = £1.05.
When writing amounts of money always write two digits after the decimal point. For
example three pounds fifty pence is written as £3.50 not £3.5.
Never have £ and p signs together. For example you would not write £10.55p.
Amounts in whole £ can be written as £8 or £8.00.
0.5 is the same as a half, so £0.50 is half a pound = 50 pence.
© BBC 2011