Camera shutter speeds?

I don't know much so any info would help out a lot!
I'm trying to figure out shutter speeds with DSLR cameras and determining what are better then others?

For example, the Nikon 1 Shutter: 1/16, 000-30s
and the Nikon D5100 Shutter: 1/4000-30s

Is a lower number a faster and better?

If you do the match you can easily figure this out.

1/1000th of a second is a much shorter time that 1/10th of a second isn't it.

So, the larger the number the faster the shutter.

There really is no better except for each circumstance. Every shooting situation is unique and often requires different settings than the last shoot. Faster shutter, say 1/1000 freezes action. 1/10 of a second can make for a blurry shot.

Situations in which 1/16, 000th sec are useful are rare, but possible. The fact that the V1's sensor is smaller than the D5100's makes it easier to have a faster shutter speed. There are also some disadvantages to a smaller sensor.

Determining the quality of a camera by its shutter speed range is the equivalent of juding a car's quality by the screws used to mount the license plate

the D5100 is the better camera because it has a larger and better sensor as well as better components. The Nikon 1 is basically a point and shoot with an interchangeable lens system.

as for what is faster, for fractions, the larger the number on the bottom, the faster it is
1/16, 000 is 4 times faster than 1/4000

1/2000th of a second is enough to stop helicopter blades at full throttle without any blur

Faster does not mean better; it just means faster (what is 'better' will depend on what you are trying to shoot).

Most people don't really go over 1/2000 second, so anything faster is probably just a marketing gimmick.

But to answer part of your question, please try to recall your basic math class (the bigger the denominator, the smaller the number. Obviously something less than a second is faster than a second.