4 ms·

Lots of users of engineering notation do this.. 1M5 = 1,500,000, 22k1 = 22,100, etc. The unit takes the place of the decimal point. A missing dot doesn't chan

• fuzzfactor 2y ago
  Exactly, putting (meaningful) characters instead of dots got really going when copy machines made some dots disappear after more than one "copy of a copy" was made. Then when fax machines came along sometimes dots would disappear or be unclear on a single transmission. Either way, occasionally sometimes the page would also be scattered with random dots too because of degraded photosensitive operation, or audio-frequency noise on the telephone line at the time. And it got even more uncertain when text that is not fixed-width got within mainstream reach :\