In the early 1700s, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German polymath, proposed the dot as the symbol for multiplication. Therefore, most of Europe favored the comma as a decimal separator.
Why do Germans use comma instead of dot?
In German the comma rather than the period is used as a decimal separator and the dot is used as a thousands separator: 12.345,67 . The comma creates some unwanted space when used as in $12.345,67$ .
What countries use commas instead of decimal points?
The three most spoken international auxiliary languages, Ido, Esperanto, and Interlingua, all use the comma as the decimal separator. Interlingua has used the comma as its decimal separator since the publication of the Interlingua Grammar in 1951.
Do British people use commas instead of decimals?
Great Britain and the United States are two of the few places in the world that use a period to indicate the decimal place. Many other countries use a comma instead. The decimal separator is also called the radix character.
Why do Germans say th as Z?
Germans have defined this letter as their strongest S sound of all since the simple S is a soft sound and the SS/ß is available for strong and hard S sounds. Z was then defined as sounding like a TS and that’s why.
Do Europeans use commas instead of decimals?
The majority of European countries use the decimal comma. Among them are Spain, France, Norway, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and more. However, it’s important to note that the United Kingdom is an exception because they tend to follow the Imperial System, which uses the decimal point.
Why do Europeans switch commas and decimals?
Leibniz was an influential mathematician, and the dot as a multiplication sign became widespread in Europe. But this solution created another problem: The dot as a multiplication sign could be confused with the decimal point. So, European mathematicians started to use a comma to separate decimals.
How do Europeans write 1000?
The comma is used to group digits in larger numbers so 1000 is actually 1,000. Some Europeans (specifically, Ukrainians) put a space after commas that are used as item separators, but they do not put a space after commas that are used as decimal part separators.
Does Germany use comma instead decimal point?
The character used as the decimal separator
In Germany, it is a comma (,). Thus one thousand twenty-five and seven tenths is displayed as 1,025.7 in the United States and 1.025,7 in Germany.
Do British say O instead of zero?
“In British English, zero is normally used only in scientific writing. In conversation, British speakers usually say ‘nought,’ or to a lesser degree, ‘oh. ‘”
Do British say zero or O?
“Zero” is the usual name for the number 0 in English. In British English “nought” is also used. In American English “naught” is used occasionally for zero, but (as with British English) “naught” is more often used as an archaic word for nothing. “Nil”, “love”, and “duck” are used by different sports for scores of zero.
Does France use a comma instead of decimal?
Commas “,”
In French, the comma is used as a decimal point: 2.5 (English) = 2,5 (French). It’s not used to separate three digits (see point 3).
What English words do Germans struggle with?
The ‘zh’ sound in words such as ‘pleasure’ and ‘measure’ is often difficult for native Germans to pronounce. The result is often a break in the middle of the word which makes it sound more like ‘mease-her’ than the English ‘z’ sound.
Why do British people say Z weird?
The primary exception, of course, is in the United States where “z” is pronounced “zee”. The British and others pronounce “z”, “zed”, owing to the origin of the letter “z”, the Greek letter “Zeta”. This gave rise to the Old French “zede”, which resulted in the English “zed” around the 15th century.
Do Germans say v instead of W?
The German letter w is generally pronounced like an English “v” . In words borrowed from other languages, the same sound is often written as a v. Note: the letter v is most often pronounced like an “f” .
Why do British use commas with numbers?
Commas in Numbers
Commas can be used with large numbers to assist the reader. They are placed every three decimal places to the left of the decimal point, which is marked with a period (full stop).
Why is a comma used instead of a decimal point?
as a separator between the dollars and cents. Some countries use a comma (,) instead of a decimal to indicate that separation. In addition, while the U.S. and a number of other countries use a comma to separate thousands, some countries use a decimal point for this purpose.
Does Italy use commas instead periods?
The way commas and periods are used in large numbers in Italian, is the reverse of what is done in English. In English we use commas to divide the thousands e.g. 12,345 – There is a comma after the number twelve. HOWEVER in Italian, a period is used instead of a comma.
Do Europeans write numbers differently?
Written Numbers
A European’s handwritten numbers look different from ours. The number 1 has an upswing, and the number 4 often looks like a short lightning bolt. If you don’t cross your 7, it may be mistaken as a sloppy 1, and you could miss your train. Don’t use “#” for “number” — it’s not common in Europe.
Why do some people use commas instead of periods?
Commas, just by not being periods, call more attention to themselves, which conveys to the reader that something else is going on.
How do Germans write 1s?
The German number 1 almost always has a diagonal stroke coming out of the top left of the main stem. This diagonal stroke may extend as far as the midline or even the baseline.