Decimal

Have you ever wanted just half a cookie, but not the whole thing? Or maybe you drank most of your juice, but there was still a little bit left at the bottom of your cup? It’s not a whole cup, but it’s not empty either. It’s an in-between amount. It can be tricky to talk about those little bits and pieces that aren't whole numbers like one, two, or three. You need a special helper for that, someone who knows that all the little parts are important, too. Well, that’s where I come in. I’m a secret helper, a tiny dot with a very big job. I love all the parts of things. Hello. I am the Decimal Point. I'm that little dot you see that helps you count all the little bits and pieces of the world.

Long, long ago, before I was famous, things were a bit confusing. Imagine trying to share a big chocolate bar with your friends. People had to use something called fractions. They would say things like, “I’ll have one-half of the bar,” and someone else would say, “I want one-fourth.” Trying to add all those different pieces together was like trying to solve a tricky puzzle just to share a snack. Then, a very clever man named Simon Stevin came along. He saw how people struggled and thought there must be an easier way to do things. He knew people needed a simpler way to work with parts of a whole, especially for important jobs like building houses or counting money at the market. He wanted to make math easier for everyone.

So, in the year 1585, Simon wrote a special little book. In his book, he showed everyone a super simple trick. He showed them me. He explained that by putting a little dot—that's me.—after a whole number, you could easily show all the little parts that came after it. No more confusing fractions for adding and subtracting. It was a wonderful “aha.” moment that changed everything. Suddenly, measuring a piece of wood for a table or figuring out the cost of a bag of apples became so much easier. I helped people be more exact and share things more fairly. I was the simple solution to a big, tricky problem.

Now that you know who I am, you’ll probably start to see me everywhere. I'm like a little superstar hiding in plain sight. When you go to the store with your family, look at the price tags. I'm the dot in $9.99 that separates the dollars from the cents. When you get measured at the doctor's office, I might be there too. Maybe you're 3.5 feet tall. That means you’re three whole feet and a little bit more. Even when you listen to music in the car, I pop up on the radio dial, like on station 102.7. I help you find the exact right spot. So you see, even though I'm just a tiny dot, I have a very big job. I am here to remind you that every little piece matters. I help you see the world more clearly, one little bit at a time.