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From: Lew on 13 Jan 2010 16:20
Martin Gregorie wrote:
> I'm intrigued
> to see that there are no longer any currencies with three decimal places.
> Some years back a few middle eastern currencies used them.
>

While it is unconventional to quote, say, USD prices to the eighth-
cent, mil or beyond, it is not unheard of.

Admittedly it's a special-purpose use case when it happens, but one
should not always be too convinced that the minimum useful monetary
precision is one one-hundredth of the currency unit.

--
Lew
From: Tom Anderson on 13 Jan 2010 16:55
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010, Lew wrote:

> Martin Gregorie wrote:
>> I'm intrigued
>> to see that there are no longer any currencies with three decimal places.
>> Some years back a few middle eastern currencies used them.
>
> While it is unconventional to quote, say, USD prices to the eighth-
> cent, mil or beyond, it is not unheard of.
>
> Admittedly it's a special-purpose use case when it happens, but one
> should not always be too convinced that the minimum useful monetary
> precision is one one-hundredth of the currency unit.

British Telecom phone bills are worked out in tenths of a penny
(millipounds?), then rounded (down) to pence at the end.

tom

--
The other big thing is the method by which these new discoveries had
been made. They had not been made in studies. They were not made by
the ransacking of ancient texts. Nobody deduced the existence of Nova
Scotia. These things were discovered by the very simple process of
driving a ship into them. A ship is a form of scientific instrument. --
Allan Chapman
From: Thomas Pornin on 13 Jan 2010 17:00
According to Lew <lew(a)lewscanon.com>:
> Admittedly it's a special-purpose use case when it happens, but one
> should not always be too convinced that the minimum useful monetary
> precision is one one-hundredth of the currency unit.

As far as I know, banking rules in Europe mandate use of 5 decimals
internally, with explicit and deterministic rules for rouding.


--Thomas Pornin
From: Eric Sosman on 13 Jan 2010 17:51
On 1/13/2010 8:08 AM, Martin Gregorie wrote:
> [...] I'm intrigued
> to see that there are no longer any currencies with three decimal places.
> [...]

Today's quote for Motors Liquidation Company (MTLQQ.PK, the
successor/inheritor/janitor/whatever for General Motors) is a
whopping 0.7112 USD, up 0.0302 from yesterday's close of 0.681.
(Source: <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=MTLQQ.PK>)

--
Eric Sosman
esosman(a)ieee-dot-org.invalid
From: Martin Gregorie on 13 Jan 2010 20:37
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:20:15 -0800, Lew wrote:

> Martin Gregorie wrote:
>> I'm intrigued
>> to see that there are no longer any currencies with three decimal
>> places. Some years back a few middle eastern currencies used them.
>>
>>
> While it is unconventional to quote, say, USD prices to the eighth-
> cent, mil or beyond, it is not unheard of.
>
> Admittedly it's a special-purpose use case when it happens, but one
> should not always be too convinced that the minimum useful monetary
> precision is one one-hundredth of the currency unit.
>
Sure, but that sort of manipulation will usually be in some sort of
costing calculation - part of a BOM package. You also see it in UK equity
prices, which are quoted in pence to two decimal places rather than
pounds.

I was referring in particular to currency amounts within financial
transactions which AFAIK always specify the number of decimal places to
be used for a given currency.

Thomas Pornin is also correct - its usual to specify the exact
calculation rules to be applied to currency conversions. The European
Central Bank certainly defines the rules for converting between Euros and
other currencies and IIRC so does S.W.I.F.T.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |
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