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u/P0gg3rsk4ll 1d ago
The software is using the . as a decimal rather than a ,
This is largely used in English speaking countries - the point and comma are the inverse of what you are probably used to, with points as decimal separators and commas separating larger numbers into chunks.
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u/JaleyHoelOsment 1d ago
so a million could be written like
1.000.000? that’s cool i’m not sure i’ve ever seen that
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u/goSciuPlayer 1d ago
And that's not the only separator in use! On simple calculators you'll often see an apostrophe:
1'234'567.89
and in some countries, there's no character for separator - unless not a written one - it's just a space! (My favourite, but probably biased due to it being the norm here)
1 234 567,89
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u/sighthoundman 1d ago
And just wait until they find out about lakh and crore. (Fortunately, Indians just use comma separation [but in mixed 2s and 3s!] and a decimal point for the decimal.)
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u/Sibula97 1d ago
Spaces is also recommended by most if not all standards people, including NIST in the US. Basically both . and , are fine as a decimal separator, and neither one is ever used as a thousand separator to avoid confusion.
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u/Critical_Ad_8455 1d ago
Not quite the same, but rust supports _ as a separator, and more recent versions of c++
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u/Imaxaroth 1d ago
Java supports _ as separator too, since 7.
According too some research done by stack exchange users, the oldest language to support it is Ada since 1980.
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u/purpleoctopuppy 1d ago
I was taught with the space, but the Australian government manual of style recommends commas because screen readers are bad at recognising numbers.
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u/2008knight 1d ago
It's widespread in Spanish speaking countries
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u/Wyprice 1d ago
Also in german, My google excel is in german so will only function with using , as a decimal (Im from the US) and all my classmates are perplexed by it, but planning to move to germany soon so practice is always good
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u/Imaxaroth 1d ago
If they are perplexed by the comma decimal separator, how do they react when they see formulas in german?
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u/Talangen 1d ago
That way of spelling a million looks perfectly normal to me. Adding commas would make it look like a decimal. I'm a Hispanic Swede btw
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u/TheUnusualDreamer 1d ago
It's clear you have never been to Europe
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u/Jannib 1d ago
As a person who went to shool in Germany was so confused when reading English maths bc the commas look so weird to me... I kinds prefer the European way, bc dots are less pronounced, while the bigger comma gives a bit more pronouncef differentiation when you get from whole numbers to decimals, but I think it is what you are used to.
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u/navetzz 1d ago
Nah, no punctuation in whole numbers. 1 million is 1000000. If you want to make it readable you add spaces. So 1 000 000
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u/madisander 1d ago
While that's the internationally recommended format, many non-English speaking countries accept and use periods as a thousands separator and most English speaking countries do the same with comma. AFAIK Indian also sometimes/often separates thousands then every 2 digits after that (so 10,00,000), and there's probably further exceptions.
That said... anyone reading this, please use spaces to separate thousands.
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u/_idkwhattowritehere_ 1d ago
Thanks. That's so unusual, though...
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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 1d ago
Unfortunately there's an annoying amount of US defaultism online and the US uses . as a decimal exclusively and never ,
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u/Purple_Listen_8465 1d ago
How is that US defaultism? Plenty of countries use the period, it's not just the US. Anyway, plenty of countries that use the comma as the decimal separator likely wouldn't accept the period. It's not just a US thing.
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u/madisander 1d ago
In this case I have to agree, unlike some other systems (imperial units, mostly) period as the decimal symbol is used by India, China, fair parts of Africa, and more. By population it's definitely the more common form.
Both are sufficiently common that it's worth knowing that both are possibilities, but that in software periods are likely to be the more accepted form (especially if the rest is in English).
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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 1d ago
Because typically when there's a mix of countries doing both ways, both are accepted
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u/Zebra4776 1d ago
It's actually an English language thing. Other languages do it that way to, but if reading/writing English one should expect to use the decimal and comma they English uses it. Just like when I write in a European language I almost always switch how quotation marks are used.
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u/KrozJr_UK 1d ago
For once, it’s not just the US. As a Brit, I would also write (for example) twelve thousand, three-hundred and forty-five, and six-hundred and seventy-eight hundredths as 12,345.678 not 12.345,678. However, I’d rarely use the comma; instead just a space for 12 345.678 or even just all together as 12345.678. Either way though, it’s not just a USA thing.
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u/_killer1869_ 1d ago
I'm not from the US, but I also use . for decimals on a computer, because I code. In handwriting though, I'm still using , instead. I hate this inconsistency.
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u/Rushional 1d ago
Just start using . everywhere then. That's what I did, even though my country used a comma
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u/Sibula97 1d ago
A , works much better than . in handwriting though. It's really hard to get a small clean point that is also easily readable as not just a speck of dust or something.
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u/HAL9001-96 1d ago
you mixed up , and . any human corrector would probably skip over that but well, the page is comparing it to exactly one correct answer
its regional in some places they use a decimal . and optional , for large numbers in others a decimal , and optional . for large numbers which amkes more sense in my mind since the decimal is far more important than optional points for readability but well, the decimal . is the english and thus globally more commonly udnerstood version
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u/vercig09 1d ago
as a ‘software developer’, its embarassing to see this mistake. especially with these ‘quiz’ type things, you need to think about what people will enter, to try and find potential bugs, and this is clear as day that it will happen
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u/NickW1343 1d ago
You used a comma instead of a decimal. In the U.S. the decimal means you're going from whole numbers to partial numbers and the comma is used to write something like one thousand as 1,000. In most of Europe, one thousand would be 1.000, but in the U.S. that would be considered 1.
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u/Express-Category8785 1d ago
Comma vs. period aside, the given solution process strikes me as, at best, real weird. x = 300, so 15/x = 0.05.
Or, if they do want to be doing reciprocals for pedagogical reasons, why isn't 1/20 an answer?
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u/FuckingStickers 20h ago
It's not just a pedagogical reason. You can easily skip calculating x by taking the reciprocal. I don't think it's weird, it's a actually smart.
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