A penny equals 1 cent.
A penny is made of copper plated zinc. It is smaller in size than a nickel.
A nickel equals 5 cents.
A nickel is made of nickel and copper. It is larger in size than the
penny.
A dime equals 10 cents.
A dime is made of nickel and copper. It is smaller in size than the
penny.
A quarter equals 25 cents.
A quarter is made of nickel and copper. It is larger in size than
the nickel.
This section will cover the fundamentals and rules of counting money.
Some Helpful Tools
The cent is written as the following: $0.50 1 cent 75 cents
The dollar sign ($) is placed before every written dollar amount. A decimal point separates the dollar amount from the cent amount.
$5.00 $2.75 $25.64
United States Currency
A half dollar equals 50 cents.
A half dollar is made of nickel and copper. It is larger in size
than the quarter.
A Presidential $1 Coin equals 1 dollar.
A Presidential Coin dollar is made of magnesium and brass. It is smaller in size than the half dollar and larger than the quarter.
The denominations of our currency are $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. These
denominations are also known as banknotes or bills.
Counting Money
Counting money is similar to counting other individual items except for some of the bills and coins have values that are greater than one.
For bills and coins that have a value of one, such as the one-dollar bill and the penny, each will be counted as one.
Example 1: Determine the value.
A penny = 1 cent
A nickel = 5 cents
A dime = 10 cents
Start with the largest value.
$0.10 + $0.05 + $0.01 + $0.01 = $0.17
Example 2: Determine the value.
$0.25 + $0.25 + $0.10 + $0.05 + $0.01 + $0.01 + $0.01 = $0.68
Example 3: Determine the value.
$20.00 + $10.00 + $10.00 + $5.00 + $1.00 + $0.25 + $0.10 + $0.10 + $0.05 + $0.01 =
$46.51.
Making Change
Hint: The value of the denominations is written on each bill.
Find the amount of change you would receive from a cashier after making a purchase.
Example 1: Suppose you buy a sandwich from the deli, a bag of chips, and a pint of lemon ice tea. The cost of your purchase is $8.73. You give the cashier a ten-dollar bill. How much change will you receive?
Let's look at our total amount again. $8.73
The cent amount is shown in boldface. How much more will it take to round to the nearest dollar?
$1.00 - $0.73 = $0.27
Now that we've created a whole dollar, subtract this number from ten dollars.
The answer is correct.
Example 2: Now let's say you buy some art supplies for a school project. The total cost of your items is $16.84. You give the cashier a twenty-dollar bill. How much change will you receive?
Let's look at our total amount again. $16.84
How much more will it take to round to the nearest dollar?
$1.00 - $0.84 = $0.16
Now that you've created a whole dollar, subtract this number from twenty dollars.
The answer is correct.
Counting Money - Tutorial
