Well the 2 in 8.524 would be 0.02 or 2 hundredths. Here's my explanation, the 8 is the whole number because it's before the decimal point, the 5 is the tenth or 0.5 and as you go further the number gets smaller so after the 5 is the 2 and that would be 2 hundredths or 0.02. So basically it's like going from tens, to hundreds, to thousands but only going in reverse order.
