Longer is larger. Students may consider that the decimal having the greater number of
digits is the larger decimal. For example 2.6498 is larger than 2.65 since it possesses a
greater number of digits. This misconception is referred to as the ‘longer is larger’ strategy
(Steinle, 1998b). This reasoning follows the logic that the more digits a decimal possess’ the
larger it is, despite the position of the decimal point, and is likely to arise from the
relationship that for whole numbers longer is indeed larger.