Question on European Numerical Formatting, Prachett, and 'Going Postal'

[WayneLigon]

I'm reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. Right now the golem has just told Lipwig that Lipwig's been responsible for the deaths of 'Two Point Three Three Eight' people.

Now, I know that in Europe the way you write numbers - specifically the use of the . and , - is reversed from the way we do it in the US but I have no idea that something has been changed for the US printing of the book.

So, is the golem telling Lipwig that Lipwig has killed 'two people and slightly more than one-third of a person' or has he killed 'two thousand three hundred thirty eight' people? It rather seems like the latter.​

 

[MonsterMash]

Usually in the UK we use the decimal point to separate whole from fractional numbers (unlike most of the rest of Europe), so four pounds and ninety nine pence would be written as 4.99 and a comma would be used to separate between thousands and hundreds, so one thousand five hundred pounds would be written as 1,500.

Hope that helps.

 

[Darkness]

I believe the British use the point and comma (mathematically) just like the Americans do.

*searches for a news story*

Yep, the Guardian does, anyway:

... received £51,000 ...

Heh. MonsterMash beat me to it.

 

[HellHound]

I haven't read it, but knowing Pratchett, I would figure that he killed 2 and slightly more than one-third persons.

It is funnier that way.

 

[Macbeth]

I've read the book, and I beleive they even make a joke to the effect of killing a fractional person, or somesuch. Great book, one of the best Pratchett books.

 

[Gez]

Yup. The Brits use the same format as the Americans: 123,456,789.10111213 ...

In other European countries, it can be 123.456.789,10111213 (which I find more appealing, graphically, multiple commas make the whole thing look confusing IMO). Or other formats.

If I were king of the world, I'd set the notation to this format: 123 456 789.10111213, as it is the one that uses the less graphical clutter. A space to separate thousands, a simple dot for the decimal separator.

 

[WayneLigon]

Yup. The Brits use the same format as the Americans: 123,456,789.10111213 ...

AHA! See, I thought they would have done just the opposite. That answers my question, then; thanks

 

[Terath Ninir]

Yup. The Brits use the same format as the Americans: 123,456,789.10111213 ...

In other European countries, it can be 123.456.789,10111213 (which I find more appealing, graphically, multiple commas make the whole thing look confusing IMO). Or other formats.

If I were king of the world, I'd set the notation to this format: 123 456 789.10111213, as it is the one that uses the less graphical clutter. A space to separate thousands, a simple dot for the decimal separator.

Oh, and wouldn't that just work brilliantly in written notation. :insert rolleyes smiley here: Computer scientists often pimp that sort of thing. Computer scientists also wrote Windows, which shows how much their opinions should be valued in this sort of thing.

 

[Eremite]

Yup. The Brits use the same format as the Americans: 123,456,789.10111213 ... (snip)

[nitpick] Actually, the Americans use the same format as the Brits. The Brits were first with it, after all. [/nitpick]

 

[reanjr]

Yup. The Brits use the same format as the Americans: 123,456,789.10111213 ...

In other European countries, it can be 123.456.789,10111213 (which I find more appealing, graphically, multiple commas make the whole thing look confusing IMO). Or other formats.

If I were king of the world, I'd set the notation to this format: 123 456 789.10111213, as it is the one that uses the less graphical clutter. A space to separate thousands, a simple dot for the decimal separator.

Spaces would be more difficult for parsing and nigh impossible to write out by hand.