Take the example 54321
Start on your right. Each digit to the left of 1 represents something that is 10 times bigger than the units digit. So for example 2 is 2*10 and 1 is just 1.
But you want to know what happens going the other way. You are looking at the tens digit (say) and you want to know what to say about a number where you start in one place and look at a number to the left of that number.
The number where you are is 1/10 the place value of the number to it's left.
