Digit Grouping

[Animeniax]

I don't know. I have finals to study for. Make me go to bed.

Science says if you get a good night's sleep after studying, you retain the information better.

[Animeniax]

The civilized world says "dot" between IP octets.

If you said "point" you'd be using it like it's a total value instead of 4 separate values tied together.

[Buffalobiian]

cut-pasted edit:

edit:

In this situation, your example works out, but if you're talking about numbers greater than 10^4, then this notation is easier to read/write and shorter to say.

But not really easier to comprehend. Languages all have some sort of word for the various place values (tens, hundreds, thousands etc), and we think in languages, not numbers.

Scientific notation would make things more universal for everyone and remove any confusion people may have with numbers (the next place value after Thousand in English is Million, 10^6, while in Chinese and Japanese at least it's "mahn", 10^4, just as one example where language convention differences can be confusing), but that's already being used where it matters anyway (scientific journals etc).

[Xelbair]

Programming languages also don't use commas for digit grouping....

Yeah, they don't use anything, unless you mean decimal parts.

Most people don't separate thousands, etc when they are writing them by hand, at least over here, and if someone seriously feels the need to do so blank space is enough.
Officially 'comma' or ' , ' is used to separate decimal part over here but it is really a liberal thing - comma and dot/point is used commonly and they are interchangeable.

Hmm I think that this thread should also cover our traditional Troll-topic - day/month/year writing system.

[Sapphire]

I actually use 24 HR time on my cell phone because it makes me feel cool.

MM/DD vs DD/MM is annoying, I just try to guess which one people mean using logic...

[Buffalobiian]

I actually use 24 HR time on my cell phone because it makes me feel cool.

Ha. I thought about doing that, but opted to using am/pm format because it was easier in the end.

MM/DD vs DD/MM is annoying, I just try to guess which one people mean using logic...

That's never a problem when interacting people on a daily basis here. It's only really a problem when reading the expiry dates on products when I'm not sure what format the place-of-origin used.

Or, you know, websites.

I remember how I was always annoyed when my Chinese teacher used MM/DD when writing up the homework. She came from Taiwan.

[David75]

In france, the rule is to use the comma for decimals, and spaces every thousand.

So it is:
1 000 000,10 in France when it's 1,000,000.10 in the U.S.A.

Some people use the dot in France, mainly because they have been influenced.

[RyougaZell]

Commas and dots here in Mexico

1,000.00

And while the 12HR format is the standard... I prefer the 24HR format better. I normally set it like that in whatever device that allows it.

I too have the same problem with date formats... never knowing if its DD/MM or MM/DD


EDIT: BTW... I love how this thread started by confusing Archie with an european.

[Xelbair]

24h format is standard in Poland and the most logical dd/mm/yy date.

[Animeniax]

I like 24h clock because AM/PM is hard to decipher on a watch in low light. I think this is the same reason the military uses 24h clock.

[Buffalobiian]

I like 24h clock because AM/PM is hard to decipher on a watch in low light. I think this is the same reason the military uses 24h clock.

I always thought the military used 24hr time just because it's less likely to be misinterpreted, whether in writing or speech. Interestingly, watches display 24hr time with the ":", which strictly speaking doesn't conform with 24hr-time format.

I can't ever recall being in a situation where I had a watch yet had no idea whether it should be AM or PM. Guess I don't get stuck in caves often enough.

[shinta|hikari]

Commas and dots for the Philippines, just like the US.

Damn our lack of originality.

[Animeniax]

Commas and dots for the Philippines, just like the US.

Damn our lack of originality.

Your people respect their forebears. Nothing wrong with that.

[KrayZ33]

over here it's:

123 456km but(!) 4321km

and

123 456,12 €
or
123.456,12 €


some ugly shit: english people tend to write the number "one" somewhat like |
AND WHERE IS THE - in the 7? WHERE? bah

a seven should look like this: 7
the same thing goes for the capital letter Z, Z but its not that easy to misread

[Buffalobiian]

We do that too ("ones" being a straight line, sevens not having the strike-through)

[Xelbair]

one being a straight line? ouch, that is kinda annoying to read and can be misunderstood easily.
seven having the '-' in it is kinda only useful if you write one as '1' not '|' - if someone has bad handwriting(ie me) it can me mistaken for 1.
i use dash in Z and z only in math - because of my crappy handwriting i sometimes can mistook it for 2.

[Sapphire]

To be fair, I don't think a computer can do that either.

[Animeniax]

To be fair, I don't think a computer can do that either.

Depends... do giant battle suits count as computers or human extensions? If the newtype pilot chews gum while flying the mobile suit down the street, I think that counts.