Dollar is the base name. Cent (idollar) is 1/100th of a dollar. Mill (idollar) is 1/1000th of a dollar. Values larger than a dollar are denominated by common na

Dollar is the base name. Cent (idollar) is 1/100th of a dollar. Mill (idollar) is 1/1000th of a dollar. Values larger than a dollar are denominated by common name, e.g., 5 dollars, 10 dollars; the set of denominated bills is (usually): 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. On top of this system is overlaid a decimalized imperial notation, the octal Spanish system, and a materials system. Thus penny=cent; nickel was used for five cent pieces; a dime is 1/10th a dollar; quarter is 25 cents (two bits; a bit is a dime and five ha'pennies), etc. The problem is that the US was one of the first countries to "decimalize" (including defining the actual measures, which were not defined previously) in the 18th c., and chose to reuse the old names. As to our measures: weights and areas are base-4 (which made manufacture of the standards easier); length is based on easily divisible numbers for common lengths; official measure is done decimalized (thus the notorious "decimal inch"). The foot is based on the second, which was fundamentally superior to the meter which was based on the earth's geodesy for practical matters, etc.