Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: USAGE: Currencies and -s

From:Thomas R. Wier <artabanos@...>
Date:Friday, September 1, 2000, 15:38
Nik Taylor wrote:

> Raymond Brown wrote: > > But I remember at the time several Math(s) > > teachers getting up-tight at seeing prices displayed with a decimal point > > followed by a couple of digits with 1/2 appended :) > > Gas prices over here are often given in a similar fashion, the price > followed by 9/10. I'm not sure why, but it's *always* 9/10. I know > that the cent was divided further into 10 mils, used for tax purposes, > as the smallest coin ever actually used was the half-cent, so that's why > the 10ths of a cent, but I don't know why it's always 9.
For the same reason that other wholesellers give listprices between one and five cents lower than the price they want to sell at: 29.99, 34.99, etc. Also, the selling of gasoline, as it happens, is a very competitive market with a very inelastic demand curve -- most gas is pretty similar to all other gas, so one of the only reasons they can convince consumers to buy *their* gas is to lower the price. ====================================== Tom Wier | "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero." ======================================