6 ms·

I read that "88.318 meters" as 88 kilometers and was kinda impressed. then I realized they use periods has commas.

jimkleiber 4y ago
Haha or we'd say you use periods as commas :-) For others who don't know, for me (American), a period means a decimal value and a comma separates between thousands. I think in some parts of Europe it's the opposite, where the period separates thousands and the comma means a decimal value.
- section_me 4y ago
  It gets even more funky here in Europe... "In Germany, it is a period (.). Thus one thousand and twenty-five is displayed as 1,025 in the United States and 1.025 in Germany. In Sweden, the thousands separator is a space"[1] [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/locale/number-formatting https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/locale/numbe...
- Terretta 4y ago
  And since, in both US and EU, in written sentences a comma is a somewhat optional boundary between continuations of a phrase, while period is a full stop also called a point, and since on a number line the zero point is that full stop point between positive and negative while successive orders of magnitude 1000s, 1000000s, etc. are only optionally delimited ... ... this is the one difference between EU and US numbering and units where EU is just wrong. :-) Edit: I see below the Swedes are even more wrong. Bork bork bork!
  - mijamo 4y ago
    It is not EU vs US. Countries have different norms. In France for instance the thousand separator is a simple space, no comma or dot. And the reason for the comma instead of the dot comes from mathematics to avoid confusion with the multiplication sign · when writing.
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      Canada also uses a space as a thousands separator, while English Canada uses a decimal point and French Canada uses a decimal comma. The use of a space as a thousands separator is explicitly to reduce confusion and ambiguity.
    - Terretta 4y ago
      > the reason for the comma instead of the dot comes from mathematics to avoid confusion with the multiplication sign · when writing I've heard that, but I think it's trying to back into a rationale since it makes no sense, people do multiply by 3 digit numbers. FWIW, when I was in grade school in France, no, we didn't separate thousands by space. Then again, my school was on the border with Switzerland, so *shrug* who knows!?!
  - layer8 4y ago
    IMO the European(?) convention makes sense insofar as the higher-level separator is visually more prominent.
- falcor84 4y ago
  Can we maybe just agree on using underscores as a thousands separator?

Haha or we'd say you use periods as commas :-) For others who don't know, for me (American), a period means a decimal value and a comma separates between thousands. I think in some parts of Europe it's the opposite, where the period separates thousands and the comma means a decimal value.

section_me 4y ago
It gets even more funky here in Europe... "In Germany, it is a period (.). Thus one thousand and twenty-five is displayed as 1,025 in the United States and 1.025 in Germany. In Sweden, the thousands separator is a space"[1] [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/locale/number-formatting https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/locale/numbe...
Terretta 4y ago
And since, in both US and EU, in written sentences a comma is a somewhat optional boundary between continuations of a phrase, while period is a full stop also called a point, and since on a number line the zero point is that full stop point between positive and negative while successive orders of magnitude 1000s, 1000000s, etc. are only optionally delimited ... ... this is the one difference between EU and US numbering and units where EU is just wrong. :-) Edit: I see below the Swedes are even more wrong. Bork bork bork!
- mijamo 4y ago
  It is not EU vs US. Countries have different norms. In France for instance the thousand separator is a simple space, no comma or dot. And the reason for the comma instead of the dot comes from mathematics to avoid confusion with the multiplication sign · when writing.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    Canada also uses a space as a thousands separator, while English Canada uses a decimal point and French Canada uses a decimal comma. The use of a space as a thousands separator is explicitly to reduce confusion and ambiguity.
  - Terretta 4y ago
    > the reason for the comma instead of the dot comes from mathematics to avoid confusion with the multiplication sign · when writing I've heard that, but I think it's trying to back into a rationale since it makes no sense, people do multiply by 3 digit numbers. FWIW, when I was in grade school in France, no, we didn't separate thousands by space. Then again, my school was on the border with Switzerland, so *shrug* who knows!?!
- layer8 4y ago
  IMO the European(?) convention makes sense insofar as the higher-level separator is visually more prominent.
falcor84 4y ago
Can we maybe just agree on using underscores as a thousands separator?