A simple question regarding numbers...

[Godzilla]

Is ２４万 equivalent to 24,000 or 240,000?? THanks!!

[richvh]

The latter. 24*10,000 = 240,000

24,000 is the equivalent of ２万４千

[Godzilla]

どうもありがとうございます

[Infidel]

Those commas killed me. When I start thinking in Japanese, I automatically assume the commas are grouping 4.

[tsumeshogi]

Infidel wrote:
Those commas killed me. When I start thinking in Japanese, I automatically assume the commas are grouping 4.

Better fix this problem, otherwise when you go to Japan you might end up accidently paying 10x more for everything!!

[AJBryant]

Actually, I know many Japanese who habitually put the commas in the wrong place *because* they use what I call "base-man" instead of thousands.

It's really annoying when I'm working on a translation, and the numbers are provided in arabic numerals but they have the commas off -- I never know if there's a typo, if they held down the 0 key too long, they don't know the proper comma-fication, or if they really think this is a correct (different) numbering system. About half the time, it's only the misplaced comma -- about half the time, it's a real mistake that could cause SERIOUS problems if I hadn't asked for a verification (which, oddly, they always seem insulted about -- even when the mistake *was* theirs to begin with).

Tony

[Infidel]

tsumeshogi wrote:

Infidel wrote:
Those commas killed me. When I start thinking in Japanese, I automatically assume the commas are grouping 4.

Better fix this problem, otherwise when you go to Japan you might end up accidently paying 10x more for everything!!

No, no, you misunderstand.

I saw

Is ２４万 equivalent to 24,000 or 240,000?? THank

and thought "24 comma. That's right." And just assumed there were 4 zeros trailing. Since numbers are grouped in 4s in Japanese. What messed me up was he used the English comma system which confused me.

I didn't realize the commas were grouping in 3s until the follow up post.

Or are you saying that registers and such display numbers in groups of three and you only see the groupings of 4 in more formal documents?

[Oyaji]

I've never seen zeros grouped in fours, even in formal documents. The fact that the counting system and comma usage don't match is a bane even to native speakers. You will often see people counting places because the commas confuse them. （一、潤A百、千、万、叙怐A。。。）

[Infidel]

Interesting, and good stuff to know. I see some of these Intro Japanese texts need a little tweaking, to specify that numbers are grouped in 4s mentally, and not on paper. Most i've seen just say they are grouped in 4s and then gives examples 50,5678 etc..

Windows used to have a regional option to group them in 4s. It doesn't anymore though--I just checked.

Yay, I learned something today.