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I have to deal with a lot of millions and billions in work (reinsurance). Thousands separators are so essential to me!!

by hessenwolf 13y ago

rplnt 13y ago
Yes, they are. I just prefer to use space for this.
- hessenwolf 13y ago
  A space is a pain to transmit between umpteen file formats.
thanatropism 13y ago
Don't you find exponent notation to be neater? 1E+03 = one thousand 1E+06 = one million 1E+09 = a thousand millions / an american billion 1E+12 = an american trillion / an european billion .. and that's as far as you need; the GDP of most countries is on the order of 1E+12 or 1E+13
- sbd 13y ago
  I assume he requires a few more significant figures in his line of work
  - sysop073 13y ago
    It's not like scientific notation precludes that. 1.234567E+06 = 1234567, but it's also at a glance obviously around 1 million
- infruset 13y ago
  wait wait wait, a billion means two different things in Europe and America? I'm from Europe and I always used 1 billion to say 10^9. I hardly see how I would not have noticed figures being so different in say, news articles from America and Britain.
  - hessenwolf 13y ago
    When I was growing up in Ireland, a billion was a million million in Britain and Ireland. Now, we have adopted the American thousand million. In Germany and Italy, a thousand million is a Milliard, and a billion is a trillion.
    - rplnt 13y ago
      Slovak and Czech have it same as Germany/Italy.
  - a-priori 13y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
- hessenwolf 13y ago
  I think I have genuinely never seen scientific notation used in an accouting context. If it can be rounded, then we will use 1MM or 1B. I see it as follows. Unlike science, where there are a few numbers related in complex ways, accounting has very many numbers, related in very simple ways.
brazzy 13y ago
Then prepare to have your mind blown (if you haven't heard about this before): the correct culture-agnostic term is "grouping separator" because not everyone uses 3 digit groups - in some East Asian languages (specifically Japan and China, not sure who else) you have separate words for "ten thousand" and use 4 digit groups.

I have to deal with a lot of millions and billions in work (reinsurance). Thousands separators are so essential to me!!

rplnt 13y ago

Yes, they are. I just prefer to use space for this.

hessenwolf 13y ago
A space is a pain to transmit between umpteen file formats.

thanatropism 13y ago

Don't you find exponent notation to be neater? 1E+03 = one thousand 1E+06 = one million 1E+09 = a thousand millions / an american billion 1E+12 = an american trillion / an european billion .. and that's as far as you need; the GDP of most countries is on the order of 1E+12 or 1E+13

sbd 13y ago
I assume he requires a few more significant figures in his line of work
- sysop073 13y ago
  It's not like scientific notation precludes that. 1.234567E+06 = 1234567, but it's also at a glance obviously around 1 million
infruset 13y ago
wait wait wait, a billion means two different things in Europe and America? I'm from Europe and I always used 1 billion to say 10^9. I hardly see how I would not have noticed figures being so different in say, news articles from America and Britain.
- hessenwolf 13y ago
  When I was growing up in Ireland, a billion was a million million in Britain and Ireland. Now, we have adopted the American thousand million. In Germany and Italy, a thousand million is a Milliard, and a billion is a trillion.
  - rplnt 13y ago
    Slovak and Czech have it same as Germany/Italy.
- a-priori 13y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
hessenwolf 13y ago
I think I have genuinely never seen scientific notation used in an accouting context. If it can be rounded, then we will use 1MM or 1B. I see it as follows. Unlike science, where there are a few numbers related in complex ways, accounting has very many numbers, related in very simple ways.

brazzy 13y ago

Then prepare to have your mind blown (if you haven't heard about this before): the correct culture-agnostic term is "grouping separator" because not everyone uses 3 digit groups - in some East Asian languages (specifically Japan and China, not sure who else) you have separate words for "ten thousand" and use 4 digit groups.