9,999,999.99 makes the most sense. It’s just like the commas in a sentence, and the one important stop point.
beastmaster11 on
I found out there was a difference because I was raised by immigrants and my teacher thought I was being difficult
snail1132 on
All of the people arguing about it in the comments are so funny
You’re typing in English. Every anglophone country uses a period (except for South Africa). Use a period. When you type in other languages, use the correct separator. It’s really not that hard
creeper321448 on
I’m going to be honest, using commas to separate numbers and periods to separate prices makes far more sense.
The entire purpose of a comma is to denote a sentence continues with a break, a period stops. So a period separating dollars from cents is far more sensible than a comma. And large numbers continue, so using a comma makes sense for that.
k_dubious on
Fintech software engineer here. Both of these are wrong, whole-number minor units are the only acceptable format.
LupusDeusMagnus on
To appease everyone I’m starting a new format, the new decimal mark is ; so everyone can be included. We need to raise 50 000;00 to bribe international standards officials.
DivusSentinal on
As an international company in the NL, we really use both. Dutch text and we use comma. English text and we use dot. Does it get switched around alot, yes; does it ever matter, not really.
VonWiking on
This always drives me crazy, working with SAP and excel in different languages; English, German and Dutch. A mistake is easily made with copying numbers, making a SKU suddenly cost 1000 times more.
asutekku on
I used to be a modder for Spore when I was a kid, and I couldn’t figure out why the code wouldn’t compile. Then, I realized for some inexplicable reason, the modding SDK required me to write numbers like “10,5” because of my locale.
This was the first (and not the last, looking at you Excel) time I encountered information presented on this map in a way that negatively impacted me.
alex_1982 on
This makes no sense, Switzerland uses a fixed space if there are more than 4 decimals:
1000
10 000
100 000
NikolitRistissa on
I’ve always just used periods and spaces for separating numbers. Commas just fuck data up if you’re using CSVs.
I’m also not sure OP fully understood what this map means because their example seems to go against what the decimal separators are. Unless they have three significant figures for no reason.
The example has digit grouping, and Finland as least, uses spaces for those. So; 10 000,50.
lightreee on
As a programmer, it’s NEVER a comma as a decimal indicator
illegalpig on
Feel like a lot of these comments are misreading the map. The map doesn’t show us whether you write the number one million as 1,000,000 or 1.000.000 what the map does show is whether you write Pi as 3.14 or 3,14
I’ve taught maths in international school for 20 years. My policy has always been:
Pick one , and stick with it.
Oh, and don’t use either when writing large numbers, put spaces between groups of three zeroes, or use standard index form, eg 4 500 000 or 4.5 • 10^6 or 4,5 • 10^6 .
Tendaar_FL on
In Liechtenstein its point (.) and not comma (,)
AdinoDileep on
Can we agree to adapt the dot worldwide in exchange for those few countries left to adapt the metric system? Would be a fair exchange imho
RepeatElectronic9988 on
The biggest problem is that English speakers use a comma as a thousands separator.
In french : 128 463,28
In english : 128,463.28
corwe on
I could never understand why. I cannot pinpoint the origin of the difference
ZzazvorCZ on
Honestly, unitl today, I tought my country is wierd to use comma, meanwhile every other country uses dot. Now I know dot is fucking imperial system thing.
helloureddit on
As a swiss, I am painfully made aware, thanks.
It’s hell, especially copy pasting numbers between programs.
peeweewizzle on
The full stop is way more appropriate because it represents a harder end to the prior structure rather than a pause, in this way it mirrors how punctuation is used in sentences.
Lezzef on
I can’t stand the imperial unit system but for some reason I dig the « point » Instead of the « coma ».
crit_ical on
In Switzerland we mostly do: 9‘000,01
radek432 on
The title is about decimal separator, but the example looks like thousand separator.
Zentti on
> For example: 1,000 or 1.000
Most of the time decimal precision is 2 so a better example would be 1,00 or 1.00.
Locarito on
Wait, so it’s not just a french thing? The rest of the world uses , like us?
Backlash5 on
Switzerland, Luxemburg what the duck. Is this related to banking systems there having to deal with customers all round and need both systems?
_x_oOo_x_ on
So thousand separators, it gets much more int’ereºsti,ng.
FierySalient on
Didn’t Germany use periods? Or am I totally wrong and learned German more than 10 years ago…?
Iron_Wolf123 on
I find it strange how it is only unique to Anglophone nations, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
33 Comments
UK Ireland don’t use a square
9,999,999.99 makes the most sense. It’s just like the commas in a sentence, and the one important stop point.
I found out there was a difference because I was raised by immigrants and my teacher thought I was being difficult
All of the people arguing about it in the comments are so funny
You’re typing in English. Every anglophone country uses a period (except for South Africa). Use a period. When you type in other languages, use the correct separator. It’s really not that hard
I’m going to be honest, using commas to separate numbers and periods to separate prices makes far more sense.
The entire purpose of a comma is to denote a sentence continues with a break, a period stops. So a period separating dollars from cents is far more sensible than a comma. And large numbers continue, so using a comma makes sense for that.
Fintech software engineer here. Both of these are wrong, whole-number minor units are the only acceptable format.
To appease everyone I’m starting a new format, the new decimal mark is ; so everyone can be included. We need to raise 50 000;00 to bribe international standards officials.
As an international company in the NL, we really use both. Dutch text and we use comma. English text and we use dot. Does it get switched around alot, yes; does it ever matter, not really.
This always drives me crazy, working with SAP and excel in different languages; English, German and Dutch. A mistake is easily made with copying numbers, making a SKU suddenly cost 1000 times more.
I used to be a modder for Spore when I was a kid, and I couldn’t figure out why the code wouldn’t compile. Then, I realized for some inexplicable reason, the modding SDK required me to write numbers like “10,5” because of my locale.
This was the first (and not the last, looking at you Excel) time I encountered information presented on this map in a way that negatively impacted me.
This makes no sense, Switzerland uses a fixed space if there are more than 4 decimals:
1000
10 000
100 000
I’ve always just used periods and spaces for separating numbers. Commas just fuck data up if you’re using CSVs.
I’m also not sure OP fully understood what this map means because their example seems to go against what the decimal separators are. Unless they have three significant figures for no reason.
The example has digit grouping, and Finland as least, uses spaces for those. So; 10 000,50.
As a programmer, it’s NEVER a comma as a decimal indicator
Feel like a lot of these comments are misreading the map. The map doesn’t show us whether you write the number one million as 1,000,000 or 1.000.000 what the map does show is whether you write Pi as 3.14 or 3,14
in turkey we are using like that:
999.999,99₺
IDK why Luxembourg is ‘both’, English is not an official language [(yet)](https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/make-english-an-official-language-in-luxembourg-countrys-business-lobby-urges/109645932.html) and all others use , comma separators.
I’ve taught maths in international school for 20 years. My policy has always been:
Pick one , and stick with it.
Oh, and don’t use either when writing large numbers, put spaces between groups of three zeroes, or use standard index form, eg 4 500 000 or 4.5 • 10^6 or 4,5 • 10^6 .
In Liechtenstein its point (.) and not comma (,)
Can we agree to adapt the dot worldwide in exchange for those few countries left to adapt the metric system? Would be a fair exchange imho
The biggest problem is that English speakers use a comma as a thousands separator.
In french : 128 463,28
In english : 128,463.28
I could never understand why. I cannot pinpoint the origin of the difference
Honestly, unitl today, I tought my country is wierd to use comma, meanwhile every other country uses dot. Now I know dot is fucking imperial system thing.
As a swiss, I am painfully made aware, thanks.
It’s hell, especially copy pasting numbers between programs.
The full stop is way more appropriate because it represents a harder end to the prior structure rather than a pause, in this way it mirrors how punctuation is used in sentences.
I can’t stand the imperial unit system but for some reason I dig the « point » Instead of the « coma ».
In Switzerland we mostly do: 9‘000,01
The title is about decimal separator, but the example looks like thousand separator.
> For example: 1,000 or 1.000
Most of the time decimal precision is 2 so a better example would be 1,00 or 1.00.
Wait, so it’s not just a french thing? The rest of the world uses , like us?
Switzerland, Luxemburg what the duck. Is this related to banking systems there having to deal with customers all round and need both systems?
So thousand separators, it gets much more int’ereºsti,ng.
Didn’t Germany use periods? Or am I totally wrong and learned German more than 10 years ago…?
I find it strange how it is only unique to Anglophone nations, Luxembourg and Switzerland.