Math. It is always 'math' in the US, while it seems to be 'maths' in the UK.
Brian
BTW I presume drugstore/pharmacist is the same sort of thing
In the movie "Inglorious Bastards", one of the spies was found out when he used the index finger and middle finger to express the number 2. Apparently in Europe, the thumb and index finger is more commonly used. What is common in the UK?
In the movie "Inglorious Bastards", one of the spies was found out when he used the index finger and middle finger to express the number 2. Apparently in Europe, the thumb and index finger is more commonly used. What is common in the UK?
Was watching a British documentary and tripped over an expression brand- new to me: the number 1,400,000 was expressed by the Brit. narrator as "fourteen hundred, thousand". Really caught me by surprise as I have never heard that before and would never express a number that way; I would say 1.4 million or one- million, four hundred thousand, as would all Americans at least to the best of my knowledge.
Again, the words are the same and make perfect sense, it is just the presentation that is different.
Brian
If asked to indicate 3 I would hold up three fingers as in a boy scout salute.
On the other hand if I was counting up to three whilst displaying I would probably start with my thumb for 1.
Oh and yes, wedding ring traditionally on left, which you guys adopted from us
Which we in turn get from the Romans
"one-million four hundred thousand" = 5 words = 8 syllables = 33 letters including spaces
"fourteen hundred thousand" = 3 words = 6 syllables = 25 letters including spaces
"1.4 million" = 2 words = 5 syllables = 11 alphanumeric characters including spaces
"1,400,000" = 1 "word" = ? syllables = 9 alphanumeric characters including spaces
If the situation allows for solely numbers, "1,400,000" requires the fewest words and alphanumeric characters, so it saves time, ink, electricity and probably other resources, so I vote that it should be the default. I would pronounce it economically as "one point four million". Nice ... and concise
If the number must consist of all letters/words, then "fourteen hundred thousand" is more economical than "one-million four hundred thousand" for the same reasons.
If asked to indicate 3 I would hold up three fingers as in a boy scout salute.
On the other hand if I was counting up to three whilst displaying I would probably start with my thumb for 1.
Fourteen hundred thousand makes no sense to me and can't say it's commonplace.
Most people would say one point four million
Yep.
Except Europe seems to like to use commas instead of decimal points (1,4 not 1.4) and vice-versa... which makes no sense to me at all... so they would have to say "one comma four million"?
$1.400.000,65 bizarre
The problem with counting up, starting with the thumb, is that the thumb is needed to hold down the ring and pinky fingers when you get to four. Just a limitation of the hand for most humans. This is why it is most logical to count starting with the index finger, then go through the other three fingers, and finally the thumb.
Anatomy wins, hands-down
I can count up quite easily on either hand starting with my thumb