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No, that won't work. Alice, Bob each have $5. ($1, $4). Alice owes Bob $2. How does she pay? The problem of making change is worse for stores. Having lots of wa
by bazzargh 14y ago
No, that won't work. Alice, Bob each have $5. ($1, $4). Alice owes Bob $2. How does she pay? The problem of making change is worse for stores. Having lots of ways to add to the same amount is an advantage, not a disadvantage.
Interestingly - in terms of mathematical purity - we've already abandoned a system that was optimised for division (£sd - the pre-decimal £ evenly divided by 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12) to one where we've optimised for ease of addition and subtraction - which we're taught in base-10.
- rayhano 14y agoWhat a fantastically reasoned comment. People don't often praise good comments enough. I didn't see decimalisation this way until now. Interesting.
- stock_toaster 14y ago> The problem of making change is worse for stores I read an interesting article recently (can't seem to find it now), about Zimbabwe's hyperinflation of local currency and how they are using the USD as their unit of local money. This has caused issues because coins are expensive to ship there, and yet in Zimbabwe the value of small denomination coins are still quite relevant. This has apparently caused extreme issues in stores, where people are either waiting for change for long periods, or having to buy things they don't need to 'round up' to the next dollar. Interestingly, apparently the two dollar bill is very popular there. edit: found it: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/world/africa/using-us-dollars-zimbabwe-finds-a-problem-no-change.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/world/africa/using-us-doll...