I recently recognized some financial projections, based upon data originating in several countries, could not possibly be correct. Unfortunately I was right, the data had been entered into a spreadsheet wrongly due to a misunderstanding of how the number elements were formatted.
The following information allowed me to correct this. It was a tedious job to reformat the number elements. I was volunteered for the task because I was first to identify the problem. No good deed goes unpunished. Here’s what I learned:
The Decimal Separator
This separates the integer and the fractional part of the number.
The Grouping Separator
This grouping separator is used to group either thousands or ten-thousands.
The grouping is between the last grouping character and the end of the integer.
The Confusing Part
In the US, UK, and Canada we use the comma as a grouping character and the period to denote the decimal. Unfortunately, this is not consistent throughout the world.
In Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain the decimal separator is the comma and the grouping separator is the period. The grouping separator is at the thousands.
In France, there is no grouping separator and the comma appears as the decimal separator. This also occurs in Quebec and Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain.
As you can see, some countries can’t make up their minds.
(No innocent minds were injured figuring this out.)
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