Is this correct? (numbers)

osm70

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2011
Messages
1,243
Trophies
1
XP
2,722
Country
Czech Republic
one and half million = 500001 (1+500000)
one million and half = 1000000.5 (1000000+0.5)
one million five hundred thousand = 1500000
 

Rydian

Resident Furvert™
Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
27,880
Trophies
0
Age
36
Location
Cave Entrance, Watching Cyan Write Letters
Website
rydian.net
XP
9,111
Country
United States
Not exactly. "And" means addition when discussing more than one number. When discussing a single number it's a joiner for concurrent reads.

For example "One and a half" means 1.5 of the base units (1 when not specified), so "one and a half million" means 1,500,000, since "million" is the base unit.

When talking about adding numbers, then it can be used as shorthand for adding. For example "you take hers and mine" mean that "hers" and "mine" are added together, since you're talking about two separate numbers.
 

ProtoKun7

GBAtemp Time Lord Regenerations: 4
Former Staff
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
7,525
Trophies
2
Location
Gallifrey
XP
1,361
Country
United Kingdom
one and half million = 500001 (1+500000)
one million and half = 1000000.5 (1000000+0.5)
one million five hundred thousand = 1500000
[One and a half] million = 1,500,000
[One million] and [a half] = 1,000,000.5
[One million] [five hundred thousand] = 1,500,000

500,001 would be [half a million] and [one].
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,321
Country
United Kingdom
Do I get the impression I am doing homework?

Anyway ahh the ambiguity of numbers and the English language and that is before we consider long vs short scale though at the million mark it is still the same (without doing a search I am not sure what the Czech Republic uses but I am willing to bet it is the long scale where most of the English and Arabic speaking world it is now the short scale).

In speech at least you could be forgiven for assuming they are all the same and that would be 1500000, indeed anybody trying to say otherwise would probably be trying to mislead you.
In text you would hopefully have more context. That said when dealing with numbers around a million or a few hundred thousand the half does not matter (see significant figures) so most of the time in general discussion it would be ignored and you can then assume it is 1500000 (maths, science, engineering and accounting/finance are different matters so ask in those cases).

"One and half million" - most of the time in English that would be "one and a half million" which is to say a million and half that again. Equally the lack of the word "a" in various points there or the lack of a comma to do a similar job is quite jarring to most native English speakers.
On commas- much of the English speaking world (and a few other places besides) was historically seen to use them to separate numbers, a lot of places are trying to do away with the comma as a number separator (I was discouraged from using them and tend not to) though, as you have probably used as comma as a decimal point/decimal mark your entire life sticking a comma in numbers like 1,000,000 will look quite odd to you but this is probably a different discussion. When numbers are spelled in words it is different and you would do well to use commas appropriately.

If you were going to say one million and a single half (0.5) most would probably make it certain by saying "one million point five" though a switch of the word order leads a somewhat more common phrase (one point five million means 1500000) so be careful there.
 

Chary

Never sleeps
Chief Editor
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
12,341
Trophies
4
Age
27
Website
opencritic.com
XP
128,269
Country
United States
In all honesty, the English language is convoluted. One and a half million would mean 1 million, and half of a million added together. 1,500,000. Or abbreviated into 1.5 million.
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,321
Country
United Kingdom
That's some pretty easy homework.

If it was maths then yeah it would be, if it is part of a language class* then less so.

*English is still the dominant finance, scientific and engineering type language and it is often taught for such reasons outside the English speaking world (where in the English speaking world it tends to be because a) who knows/you have to learn a language or b) so those learning can watch a film, go on holiday there or read a book). To that end be careful if you are going to try to compare when you might have learned about large numbers in another language (if you did at all).
 
  • Like
Reactions: porkiewpyne

Whipple

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2009
Messages
122
Trophies
1
XP
169
Country
United States
Just think of how difficult it is to learn English as a second language.
The confusing contradictions and exceptions to the "rules".
A tip of my hat to anyone who is multilingual and includes English.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo: I'm in my birthday suit! Lol