Dollars, cents and money notation

The dot separates dollars from cents

One dollar is 100 cents. The amount $3.45 means three dollars and forty-five cents. It is 300 + 45 = 345 cents altogether.

Money notation has two digits after the dot. $3.05 means three dollars and five cents. The zero matters: $3.50 means three dollars and fifty cents.

Count coins by value. Two 1-dollar coins, one 50-cent coin and two 20-cent coins give 2 dollars 90 cents: $2.90, or 290 cents.

Check your understanding 1 Read the places before writing

Read $4.07 aloud in dollars and cents. Then write a different amount, four dollars and seventy cents, in money notation.

Dollars and cents in $4.07, or say them aloudMoney notation for four dollars and seventy cents

Show answer

$4.07 is four dollars and seven cents. Four dollars and seventy cents is $4.70. Each amount has four dollars, but 7 cents and 70 cents have different values. Keep both places after the dot, including a zero when it is needed.

Convert by making groups of 100

For 375 cents, make three groups of 100 cents and leave 75 cents. The amount is $3.75.

For $6.04, count six hundreds of cents and four more: 604 cents. There are not 64 cents; the six means six dollars.

Check your understanding 2 Keep both places after the dot

How many cents are in $4.09?

Amount in cents

Check answer

Show answer

409 cents. Forty-nine cents would be $0.49, which is a different amount.

Compare amounts in one unit

Order $2.75, $2.07 and $3.00. Converting to cents gives 275, 207 and 300. From least to most: $2.07, $2.75, $3.00.

You can also compare dollars first. Two amounts have two dollars, so compare their cents: 7 cents is less than 75 cents. Three dollars is greater than either two-dollar amount.

Check your understanding 3 More coins or more value?

Kai has six 20-cent coins. Mei has one 1-dollar coin and one 50-cent coin. Who has more money, and by how much?

Your answer or drawing on paper

Show answer

Kai has 120 cents, or $1.20. Mei has 150 cents, or $1.50. Mei has 30 cents more, even though she has fewer coins.

Read each answer aloud in dollars and cents to check its meaning. Do not write a money dot as though it measured minutes or centimetres; this notation belongs to dollars and cents.