Decimal Place Definition & Meaning

American

British

Scientific

Examples

decimal place American

noun

1. the position of a digit to the right of a decimal point; a specific number of digits to the right of the decimal point in a line of numbers.

decimal place British

noun

1. the position of a digit after the decimal point, each successive position to the right having a denominator of an increased power of ten

   in 0.025, 5 is in the third decimal place

2. the number of digits to the right of the decimal point Compare significant figures

   3.142 is a number given to three decimal places

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 decimal place Scientific

1. The position of a digit to the right of the decimal point in a number written in decimal notation. In 0.079, for example, 0 is in the first decimal place, 7 is in the second decimal place, and 9 is in the third decimal place.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The BLS put the August jobless rate at 4.3% External link, rounded to a single decimal place.

From Barron's

Despite the ridiculous smallness of this constant -- expressed in everyday units of kilograms, metres and seconds it takes a value that starts at the 34th decimal place after the comma -- the fact that Planck's constant is not exactly zero is enough to compute such quantum effects.

From Science Daily

"The point is not to get numbers that are correct right down to the last decimal place; we are measuring rubbish, not gold. The point is to have fewer ropes ending up in the sea and getting more rope into sustainable circulation," he said.

From Science Daily

He did it in the following way: the first decimal place of the new number corresponds to the first decimal place of the first number in the list plus one—that is, 4 in the above example.

From Scientific American

The second decimal place is obtained by calculating the second decimal place of the second number plus one—that is, 5.

From Scientific American

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.