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The $ sign goes before the number, not after
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the thing i hate about my old ipad is that it thinks I meant hat when I clearly typed that
bloody thing
bloody thing
Seriously, $5 or 11¢ ... if it's less than $1, the money symbol comes after the number. I think it's just to confuse people trying to learn English.
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As with language, it could well be that when the format developed (in late medieval Italy) for transcribing financial transactions (double-entry book-keeping, for example), certain conventions were applied which became the norm, or standard, and continued to be used as such, such as, placing the currency symbol in front of the described amount.
This is not used for distance, or speed, because the need to describe these (as a standard) came later than the need to have accurate financial records.
This is not used for distance, or speed, because the need to describe these (as a standard) came later than the need to have accurate financial records.
I don't agree. True enough for speed, I concede. But financial transactions would be very concerned about the weight of things. Weights come after the number, recall, traditionally. Also, distance would also be accurately measured for property boundaries, distance to carry freight, etc etc. Recall that the ancient Egyptians were an early inventor of geometry and distance measurements since they had to re-mark farmer's land holdings every time the Nile flooded.
...maybe they just used a separate column in the spreadsheet for the symbol, thus making it possible to be pre-entered on a template
While the ancient Egyptians were of course an early inventor of geometry, much of what they knew had been lost (and needed to be rediscovered) by the time of the Renaissance.
While their science and observations were astonishing (given the instruments at their disposal), their way of noting measurements, calculations and the manner in which numeracy was expressed is not what has given rise to the way we write currencies today.
...maybe they just used a separate column in the spreadsheet for the symbol, thus making it possible to be pre-entered on a template
....with quill pens, painstakingly transcribed by hand, trying to keep inky fingers clean......(I'm talking about Italian banking houses in the Renaissance period, from where modern practices of accountancy and financial notation derive).
Only "lost" from the European perspective. Much of knowledge "rediscovered" during the Renaissance was transferred from the Islamic world's scientists.
Oh, yes that is absolutely true, I know this perfectly well (in an earlier life, I used to teach Renaissance history), and I am writing from a European perspective, as European modes are what came to have such an influence on all of our lives.
However, the fact that this knowledge was exceptionally well known in parts of the Arab world did not mean that Europeans knew it until they 'rediscovered' it and allowed that such knowledge was worth incorporating into their own world view (which also meant loosening the stranglehold of the Catholic Church on education, literacy, and challenging what was allowed to be studied & defined as knowledge).
Which still doesn't settle the $ placement question ...
Unless the Pope has had something to say on the matter?
Which still doesn't settle the $ placement question ...
Unless the Pope has had something to say on the matter?
Only if His Holiness spoke ex cathedra.....(and historically, his decision to do so came rather late in the day).....
Only if His Holiness spoke ex cathedra.....(and historically, his decision to do so came rather late in the day).....
More like ex catheter
Well, yes, that is the considered opinion of some, it must be said, a dissenting minority, granted, but, nevertheless, an opinion that is not wholly without merit.......