What’s on the Powers of Ten poster
A 5-row table: Power · Means · Value · Digits move.
The exponent counts how many places the digits move.
- 10¹ — 10 — 10 — 1 place left
- 10² — 10 × 10 — 100 — 2 places left
- 10³ — 10 × 10 × 10 — 1,000 — 3 places left
- 10⁴ — 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 — 10,000 — 4 places left
- 10⁰ — one, by definition — 1 — no move
Dividing by a power of ten moves the digits the same number of places to the right.
Questions about the Powers of Ten poster
- What’s on the Powers of Ten poster?
- A 5-row table: Power · Means · Value · Digits move. The exponent counts how many places the digits move. 10¹ — 10 — 10 — 1 place left; 10² — 10 × 10 — 100 — 2 places left; 10³ — 10 × 10 × 10 — 1,000 — 3 places left; 10⁴ — 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 — 10,000 — 4 places left; 10⁰ — one, by definition — 1 — no move. Dividing by a power of ten moves the digits the same number of places to the right.
- Who is the Powers of Ten poster for?
- Powers of Ten is filed under 5th Grade (ages 10–11), so it matches what that year asks a child to remember. It is equally useful to an older student revisiting math, and to the parent or teacher answering the question at the kitchen table.
- When should you use the Powers of Ten poster?
- Say 'the digits move', never 'add a zero'. Decimals prove why. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Powers of Ten belongs on the wall where that math work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Powers of Ten?
- Adding Unlike Fractions, Area & Perimeter and Sorting Shapes by Their Properties sit alongside Powers of Ten in the 5th Grade set. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Adding Unlike FractionsArea & PerimeterSorting Shapes by Their Properties
- Is the Powers of Ten poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Powers of Ten downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the 5th Grade set. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Powers of Ten poster print at?
- Powers of Ten is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Powers of Ten loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Powers of Ten on the same wall.
Browse every 5th Grade poster, or start from the full catalogue.