summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/macros/latex/contrib/fancynum/aue.txt
blob: 58d9b75b2e56ac2d3ca8c33ce68d96824294a858 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
aue.txt
-------

$Id: aue.txt,v 1.1 2000/03/15 18:29:52 ap1jjg Exp $

Some correspondance on alt.usage.english. I am curious as to
what you should call the decimal point in a number qua symbol.
The correspondance was inconclusive, and I decided to use
"decimal symbol" and "group symbol" after all.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Punctuation of numbers

Hello all

I need to refer to the punctation used in numbers, eg.,

  3.141,592,653

in a language-independant fashion. Specifically to
* the "decimal separator" ("." or centered dot in English, "," in French)
* the "digit-triple separator" ("," in English, "." in French)

Would anyone have any suggestions or references?

Thanks

-j
-- 
J.J.Green, Dept. Applied Math. University of Sheffield, UK
http://www.arbs.demon.co.uk

From: "Frank Peelo" <fpeelo@indigo.ie>
Subject: Re: Punctuation of numbers
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:19:26 -0000
Xref: news.shef.ac.uk alt.usage.english:415923


john green <ap1jjg@gold.cics.shef.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:s8xpusxbud1.fsf@gold.cics.shef.ac.uk...
> Hello all
>
> I need to refer to the punctation used in numbers, eg.,
>
>   3.141,592,653
>
> in a language-independant fashion. Specifically to
> * the "decimal separator" ("." or centered dot in English, "," in French)
> * the "digit-triple separator" ("," in English, "." in French)

Do all languages group digits in threes? Windows, at least, allows you to
specify the number of digits in a group, which suggests that some regions
use different groupings.
FP


From: brahms@mindspring.com (Stan Brown)
Subject: Re: Punctuation of numbers
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 15:46:36 -0500
Organization: Oak Road Systems
Xref: news.shef.ac.uk alt.usage.english:416044

Said ap1jjg@gold.cics.shef.ac.uk (john green) in 
alt.usage.english:
>Hello all
>
>I need to refer to the punctation used in numbers, eg.,
>
>  3.141,592,653
>
>in a language-independant fashion. Specifically to
>* the "decimal separator" ("." or centered dot in English, "," in French)
>* the "digit-triple separator" ("," in English, "." in French)

First, I don't know of any widespread style that puts commas 
*after* the decimal point. 

Second, in 234,123.33 the comma is a "thousands separator", in my 
vocabulary anyway. ISO Handbook 1, /Units of Measurement/, calls 
the separator between the whole and fractional parts a "decimal 
sign". Microsloth Windows calls them "digit grouping symbol" and 
"decimal symbol".

The preferred decimal sign is the comma, and the preferred 
thousands separator is a thin space. The American way is a period 
and a comma, respectively.

-- 
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
                http://www.mindspring.com/~brahms/
alt.usage.English intro and FAQs: http://go.to/aue
WWWebster online dictionary: http://www.m-w.com/mw/netdict.htm
more FAQs: http://www.mindspring.com/~brahms/faqget.htm

From: "Bruce McIntyre" <mcbruce1@home.nospam.com>
Subject: Re: Punctuation of numbers
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 02:20:53 GMT
Organization: @Home Network Canada
Xref: news.shef.ac.uk alt.usage.english:416159


"Stan Brown" <brahms@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.13386f363c85ff8298adbe@news.mindspring.com...
| Said ap1jjg@gold.cics.shef.ac.uk (john green) in
| alt.usage.english:
|
| Second, in 234,123.33 the comma is a "thousands separator", in
my
| vocabulary anyway. ISO Handbook 1, /Units of Measurement/, calls
| the separator between the whole and fractional parts a "decimal
| sign". Microsloth Windows calls them "digit grouping symbol" and
| "decimal symbol".
|
| The preferred decimal sign is the comma, and the preferred
| thousands separator is a thin space. The American way is a
period
| and a comma, respectively.
|

I like the thin space as a thousands separator where possible.  In
newsgroups, which most of us read in monospaced text (and if you
don't you probably should), I think the comma is a reasonable
second choice.  My sense of logic says that if the comma is going
to be sometimes used as a thousands separator, it should never be
used as a decimal symbol, as is commonly done in Europe (and
perhaps elsewhere).

Probably the reason Windows calls it a digit grouping symbol is
that sometimes long decimals are separated, as in "1 Plekka =
0.000 276 4 Euros."  (Don't ask me what a Plekka is; I made it
up.)  It's easier to see from this that 27,640 Plekka make 1 Euro.
I know, it's easier to write "27,640 Plekka = 1 Euro" but not if
it's part of a list...

I agree that commas/periods should never be used as decimal
separators.


--
.-------------.----------------------------------------.
|   McBruce   |    Note new email: mcbruce1@home.com   |
| ICQ 6797517 |   Now surfing UseNet via cable modem!  |
}-------------^----------------------------------------{
| Bruce McIntyre, 6636 Dow Ave., #203                  |
|  604/438-9735   Burnaby BC, Canada V5H 3C9           |
`------------------------------------------------------'


Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 18:04:35 +0100 (MET)
From: Arndt Jonasson <arndt@erix.ericsson.se>
To: ap1jjg@gold.shef.ac.uk

In article <s8xpusxbud1.fsf@gold.cics.shef.ac.uk> you write:
>Hello all
>
>I need to refer to the punctation used in numbers, eg.,
>
>  3.141,592,653
>
>in a language-independant fashion. Specifically to
>* the "decimal separator" ("." or centered dot in English, "," in French)
>* the "digit-triple separator" ("," in English, "." in French)
>
>Would anyone have any suggestions or references?

I don't know good names for them, but note that a blank is sometimes
used as a "digit-triple separator", and that in Japanese, they separate
digit-quadruples instead. Maybe "digit-group separator" is a better
term.

-- 
Arndt Jonasson              Ericsson Utvecklings AB
arndt@erix.ericsson.se      ÄT2/UAB/F/P
+46 8 719 75 87             126 25 Stockholm