Identifying Denominations

When shopping, have your parents ever told you that toys and candies are too expensive? Do you know why they say it is expensive? Because buying a toy or candy requires a lot of money. So students need to understand the concept of money. Money is the currency note or coin we use to buy or sell things. 

The value of coins, notes, stamps, and bonds is called the face value. Fragmenting the face value into smaller units is known as denominations. As we know, the place values are ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on. Similarly, we have the place value on money too.  

Before understanding denominations, students should first learn how to count money. To count money, we use the following methods:

• Counting 
• Addition
• Skip-counting

Counting: In this method, we need to understand the foundation that is counting to 100. The value of money is printed on the currency to make it easy for counting. 

Addition: When counting money, we add all the currency together to find the value. So to count money, we must know addition.

Skip-counting: In skip-counting, we count by multiples of a number. For example, counting $5 coins as 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.

Let’s learn about the different forms of denominations including currency notes, transactions, stocks, and bonds.

• Currency Notes: Physical money withdrawn from an ATM and used in transactions is a denomination. It can be of specific values such as $20, $50, and $100 bills. 

• Transactions: During international trade, denomination is the currency used in the transaction. For example, if an Indian company purchases machinery from a U.S. manufacturer and agrees to pay in US dollars, then the transactions in U S dollars are denominated. If the payment is made in Indian currency, it is a Rupee-denominated transaction. 

• Stocks: The par value is the official starting price, also known as the face value. The par value of a stock is its original price when first issued by a company. For example, if the par value of the company’s stock is two cents per share, then two cents is its denomination.   

• Bonds: The par value of a bond is its denomination, the amount which the investor will receive upon maturity. As the maturity period differs for each bond, the denominations will also change.

The values of the currency determine the worth of a transaction. The smaller denominations such as $1, $5, and $10 are commonly used. In this section, learn about some common and high-value denominations. Each U.S. bill features a historical figure. For example, the $1 bill features George Washington.

The $500, $1000, $5000, and $10000 bills are the high-value denominations printed in the U.S. However, not all were out for circulation. These denominations are not printed anymore to prevent money laundering. These types of large denominations are usually used by banks for transactions. 

Since 1945, no $500 bill has ever been printed in the U.S. Back in 1945, the $500 bill featured William McKinley. Alexander Hamilton was originally featured in the $1000 bill, but was later replaced by President Grover Cleveland. The largest U.S. denomination ever to be circulated by the public was the $10,000 bill, which featured Salmon P. Chase. Today, the $100 bill is the largest denomination in circulation. 

The $100,000 bill, featuring President Woodrow Wilson, was printed in 1934 for official Federal Reserve transactions only.

Due to the decrease in value and usability, the U.S. stopped producing coins like the half-cent, two-cent, three-cent, half-dime, and twenty-cent. 

The way of referring to the currency of different values using nicknames is known as denomination nomenclature. Let’s see some common nomenclature:

• In the U.S. the $100 features the founding father Benjamin Franklin, so it is referred to as Benjamin.

• The dollar coins are referred to as “Loonies” and two-dollar coins as “Toonies” in Canada 

• 500 pounds is sometimes referred to as a ‘monkey’ in the U.K.

• In Russia during the time of hyperinflation, one billion rubles is referred to as watermelon.

In this section, we will discuss a few tips and tricks to master identifying denominations. 

• For making counting easier, arrange the coins or notes based on their values.

• For quickly adding the coins or bills, use skip counting method

• When counting coins, try to stack them according to the value and add them

• Try to practice daily with different amounts to improve speed and accuracy.