Re: Datasheet-flation?

On Sat, 23 Nov 2024 22:02:07 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:

Waldek Hebisch <antispam@fricas.org> wrote:
>

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

The data "sheet" for the new processor I'm using is ~16,000 pages.
(note carefully the position of the comma separator)

 
In my country people would ask why are you putting decimal
comma in a number that is supposed to be an integer?

>
It's a convention used in banking and accountancy to divide the '0's
into groups of three and make them easier to count with less chance of
error.  It is also used by newspapers and sometimes in ordinary
correspondence but very rarely in scientific communications, where the
10^x notation is preferred.  The decimal divider in English is the
full-stop [American: "period"]

>
Also be aware that the term "Billion" means a million million
(Bi-million) in English but only a thousand million in American and
French..  Most English people seem ignorant of this and use it
incorrectly with the American meaning.

Units, thousands, millions, billions, trillions makes sense. 1000:1
steps.

Unless you mean national debts, where quadrillions are the next step.