The Verizon Math thing I linked above exemplifies precisely the confusion that dumb people get into with decimals in currency. That’s why we exactly should not be teaching that the decimal point denotes a change in denomination.
That's how I always thought of it and never had any problems. A hundred pennies in a pound, so £1.50 means one pound and fifty pence. No one would say "one point five pounds", even though it would still be right.
Unfortunately for that position, many restaurants now have menus containing prices like £4.5 instead of £4.50.
I don't like it, but it isn't wrong.
Where? I eat out regularly and have never seen that before.
It’s very common in posh venues, or places that wishfully pretend they are. So far, I’ve encountered it in 4 countries that I can remember (USA, UK, CH, and F), so I’m thinking it’s here to stay.
While I appreciate the mathematical correctness of it, I just find it so silly and pretentious that to me, it slightly downgrades the place.
(Note that I don’t mind omitted cents if
all the prices are integers. Here in CH, on menus and signs with items that have cents, you often see the integer prices written as “4.–”, which I find rather elegant, as it’s much easier to skim than “.00”)
..Unfortunately for that position, many restaurants now have menus containing prices like £4.5 instead of £4.50.
I don't like it, but it isn't wrong.
I'd call it "wrong".
No matter how mathematically correct not doing so may be, I would like to think providing two decimal digits is simply the civilised way to express currency amounts. Leaving it without the trailing zero is, IMHO, a simple result of lazy spreadsheet habits.
Oh, believe me, it’s
highly deliberate.
As tggzzz said, it’s definitely a hipster statement: “We’re too cool for zeros.”