Our attention so far has been meaning of the decimal and on the meaningful writing of decimal numbers. We would be remiss if we did not also mention the issue of correctly reading and speaking the decimal numbers. While it is not incorrect to read a number like o.25 by "point two five,” in most cases this is not the appropriate way to read the number. Rather, "twenty-five hundredths” would be the correct and appropriate thing to say reading this number. When reading the number aloud, if we trade everything in for the smallest place values written. The number 0.25 is read as if the two faces were actually twenty columns. These twenty columns, along with the five columns previously noted, give us a total of twenty-five columns. If the number were written as 0.250, even though the value of the quantity is still the same, we would say “two-hundred-fifty thousandths.” Again, we say the number of the smallest place value written. The zero in the thousandths place (the cubes’ place) tells us to think of the two faces as two- hundred cubes and the five columns as fifty cubes. We report on the total number of cubes. If we are dealing with numbers that e digits to the left of the decimal point, we simply read that we part first. say the word “and” for the decimal point, then go on say to read the part to the right of the decimal point as we have been describing. So, the number 243.567 would be read as “two-hundred-forty-three and five-hundred-sixty-seven thousandths.” These issues of correctness and appropriateness in how we read and speak the decimal numbers are related more to socially agreed-upon conventions rather than mathematical requirements. We read and speak decimal numbers in the ways that we do because we want to be clearly understood. The conventions that people have developed for speaking and reading these numbers could very well have developed differently than they have.