Do you know that there are around 30,000 black bears in Minnesota? And that our moon is 384,400 kilometers away from Earth?

If you know how to read greater (larg­er) numbers, reading those sentences is a breeze. But if you don't know greater numbers, just looking at those figures might confuse you.

Count how many digits there are in those numbers. The first number has five digits, and the second has six. Let's use the second number as our example.

384,400

How do you read numbers like that? One way is to say the number before the comma, and then say "thousands." We'll do that in a minute. Before we do, though, here's another way to look at reading five- and six-digit numbers.

First, look at the commas. Commas separate the digits into threes or periods. It's easy to tell if you have a thousands number. It will have four, five, or six digits. We always use commas for writing numbers of four or more digits so they're easier to read.

Second, remember place values. The fifth digit from the right is the ten thousands place. The sixth digit from the right is the hundred thousands place. (You will sometimes see the terms "ten thousands column" and "hundred thousands column" used.)

Third, look at the leftmost digit. Be sure to start reading from here when you read a number.

Fou­rth, say the number before the comma, and then say "thousand." What's the number before the comma? It's 384. So you say it as "three hundred eighty-four." Then you say "thousand." So now you say "three hundred eighty-four thousand."

Lastly, add the last three digits, 400. So you must read the whole number as "three hundred eighty-four thousand, four hundred."

This time, try reading the five-digit number 30,000. The number before the comma is "thirty" and you must say "thousand" after it. Read the whole number aloud.

It's thirty thousand.

Now you've read five- and six-digit numbers.