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Worksheet

Extension & Challenge — Understanding Number

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Challenge A — Integers in the real world

Challenge A — Integers in the real world

These problems go beyond ordering integers — you will need to find differences that cross zero and reason about change. Sketch a number line whenever you get stuck.

Four thermometers showing minus 5, 8, minus 2 and 3 degrees Celsius.
Thermometers A, B, C and D (left to right). Use them for Q1–Q3.

Q1. Read each thermometer: A =   B =   C =   D =

Q2. How many degrees apart are the coldest and warmest thermometers? Show your counting.

Q3. Overnight, thermometer B falls by 11°. What does it read now?

Q4. A lift starts on floor −3 (3 levels of car park). It goes up 9 floors, down 4, then up 2. Which floor is it on? Show each step.

Q5. The temperature in Perth was 19°C. In Thredbo it was 23° colder. What was Thredbo's temperature?

Q6. Prove it. Marcus says “−10 is bigger than −2 because 10 is bigger than 2.” Is he correct? Use a number line to explain.

Q7. Open task. Write three different real-world situations that could each be represented by the integer −6.

Challenge B — Place-value puzzles

Challenge B — Place-value puzzles

Each place in our number system is ten times the place to its right. Reading a number in a place value chart helps you reason about how its digits change when you multiply or divide by 10, 100 or 1000.

A place value chart with columns Tens, Ones, point, Tenths, Hundredths showing 4.56.
The number 4.56 set out in a place value chart.

Q1. In 4.56, write the value of each digit: 4 = , 5 = , 6 =

Q2. Make the number 10 times larger and then 100 times smaller than 4.56. Write both.

Q3. Digit puzzle. I am a number between 4 and 5. My tenths digit is double my hundredths digit, and my digits add to 7 with the 4. What number could I be? Is there more than one answer?

Q4. Use the digits 7, 3, 0, 9 once each to make the number closest to 5 in the form _ . _ _ _.

Q5. Prove it. Is 0.4 the same as 0.40? Explain using place value, not just “they look the same”.

Q6. Reasoning. Jess writes 3.7 > 3.65 because “7 is bigger than 65 has more digits”. Her answer is right but her reason is wrong. Write a correct explanation.

Q7. Challenge. Counting by 0.01, how many steps from 4.56 to 4.6?