Math Is Fun Forum

Hawkmon

Member

Registered: 2007-07-05

Posts: 0

My parents and I can't agree

Is 25 cents and .25 equal ?

Hawkmon

Member

Registered: 2007-07-05

Posts: 0

Re: My parents and I can't agree

Is $0.25 = to 0.25cents

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: My parents and I can't agree

No, they’re not equal. $0.25 = 25 cents (not 0.25 cents). (0.25 cent is a quarter of a cent.)

mikau

Member

Registered: 2005-08-22

Posts: 1,504

Re: My parents and I can't agree

Yeah, it depends on if you're talking about dollars or cents, hawkmon.

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A logarithm is just a misspelled algorithm.

mathsyperson

Moderator

Registered: 2005-06-22

Posts: 4,900

Re: My parents and I can't agree

Also, regarding your first question, $0.25 is technically different from 0.25.

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Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.

Maelwys

Member

Registered: 2007-02-02

Posts: 161

Re: My parents and I can't agree

There was actually a big fuss about this recently with some phone company in the states, I was reading about it on the guy's blog. He signed up with a new phone company and they promised him that his phone would let him surf the internet for just 0.02 cents / kb. He asked them several times to clarify that they really meant 0.02 cents, and they agreed that they did. So when he used it the first month to do 3 MB of surfing, he was a bit shocked to see the bill come in at $60, instead of $6, as they'd charged him 2 cents instead of 0.02 cents. He spent a couple months arguing with customer service people, and their managers, and all sorts of people just trying to see if even if he couldn't get the charge revoked, he could at least get them to agree that 0.02 cents and 0.02 dollars (2 cents) are not the same thing. I think they finally gave him his money back, but never really admitted that they were wrong...

John E. Franklin

Member

Registered: 2005-08-29

Posts: 3,588

Re: My parents and I can't agree

.25 means break it into four parts and take one of them for the answer.
Dollars are 100 times bigger than cents.
So a dollar in 4 pieces is way bigger than a cent in 4 pieces.

However, $0.25 = 25.0 cents.

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igloo myrtilles fourmis

JaneFairfax

Member

Registered: 2007-02-23

Posts: 6,868

Re: My parents and I can't agree

There was actually a big fuss about this recently with some phone company in the states, I was reading about it on the guy's blog. He signed up with a new phone company and they promised him that his phone would let him surf the internet for just 0.02 cents / kb. He asked them several times to clarify that they really meant 0.02 cents, and they agreed that they did. So when he used it the first month to do 3 MB of surfing, he was a bit shocked to see the bill come in at $60, instead of $6, as they'd charged him 2 cents instead of 0.02 cents. He spent a couple months arguing with customer service people, and their managers, and all sorts of people just trying to see if even if he couldn't get the charge revoked, he could at least get them to agree that 0.02 cents and 0.02 dollars (2 cents) are not the same thing. I think they finally gave him his money back, but never really admitted that they were wrong...

I don’t know about US law, but in the UK you can successfully bring legal action against the company. (Also, 3 MB @ 0.02 ¢/KB should come to 60 cents, not $6. )