In American English a period ( . ) is used as a decimal separator, but there are other places in the world where a comma ( , ) is used.

I would read a quantity of 7.5 as “seven point five” written as-is. But if you use a pause and not a point how do you read the number aloud?

  • BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.worldEnglish
    4·
    8 hours ago

    I wonder if the world will ever standardise to one or the other?

    The . for decimal separator is used in English, as well as China and India but apparently that is only 35-40% of the global population. The , is used for 60-65%. Although the figures may not be accurate as a lot of countries seem to use both, with . used for international business, and internationally published science tends to be published in English?

    Probably never be standardised as it’s probably too difficult to switch now? 1,000,000.00 and 1.000.000,00 are clear because of the use of three 0s for thousands etc, and two 0s for decimals. But 1.001 and 1,001 are much more ambiguous and would definitely need context as to which system is being used - is it 1 thousand and 1 or 1 and one thousandth?

    • blujan@sopuli.xyz
      3·
      6 hours ago

      Add another 1.6% with mexico using . as decimal separator.

      Separator Estimated Population % Primary Regions
      Decimal Point (.) ~70–75% China, India, USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia.
      Decimal Comma (,) ~20–25% Most of the EU (Germany, France, Italy, Spain), Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Turkey, and much of South America.
      Other / Arabic (٫) ~5% Middle Eastern countries (Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia) using the Momayyez.