# How do you pronounce 0,75 or 3,24? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 11, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083 "2006-10-11T18:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/1 "2006-10-11T18:39:04Z")
'round here those would be writen as 0.75 and 3.24 and most likely pronounce “point seven five” “three point two four” or some variation of that, but still saying “point.” How is it pronounced when a comma is used instead? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/2 "2006-10-11T18:40:30Z")
“wrong?” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/3 "2006-10-11T18:43:14Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] 'round here those would be writen as 0.75 and 3.24 and most likely pronounce “point seven five” “three point two four” or some variation of that, but still saying “point.” How is it pronounced when a comma is used instead? [/QUOTE] In Germany they use the comma this way, and IIRC ithey would say “drei komma zwo vier” and “null komma sieben vier”. Unless it’s an amount of money when it would simply be “Drei Euro vierundswanzig”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/4 "2006-10-11T18:48:20Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] “wrong?” [/QUOTE] Now I know how I can rack up 12K posts. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/5 "2006-10-11T19:20:02Z")
[QUOTE=CookingWithGas] Now I know how I can rack up 12K posts. [/QUOTE] By following me around? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/6 "2006-10-11T19:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] In Germany they use the comma this way, and IIRC ithey would say “drei komma zwo vier” and “null komma sieben vier”. Unless it’s an amount of money when it would simply be “Drei Euro vierundswanzig”, and so on. [/QUOTE] Same in Sweden (but not in German) Noll comma sjutti-fem. Tre comma tjugofyra ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/7 "2006-10-11T19:27:16Z")
This is a little off topic, but according to my old roomate (who is a math major and generally anal about this kind of stuff), .75 should not be pronounced “point seven five.” He is convinced that it should only be pronounced " seventy five thousandths. 3.24? Three and twenty four thousandths. Any other pronunciation is wrong. Anyone else heard of this? ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/8 "2006-10-11T19:29:26Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] This is a little off topic, but according to my old roomate (who is a math major and generally anal about this kind of stuff), .75 should not be pronounced “point seven five.” He is convinced that it should only be pronounced " seventy five thousandths. 3.24? Three and twenty four thousandths. Any other pronunciation is wrong. Anyone else heard of this? [/QUOTE] Thousandths? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/9 "2006-10-11T19:33:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] Thousandths? 😕 [/QUOTE] It would have to be “Seven Hundred and Fifty thousandths” and “Three and Two Hundred and Forty Thousandths”. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/10 "2006-10-11T19:38:05Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] This is a little off topic, but according to my old roomate (who is a math major and generally anal about this kind of stuff), .75 should not be pronounced “point seven five.” He is convinced that it should only be pronounced " seventy five thousandths. 3.24? Three and twenty four thousandths. Any other pronunciation is wrong. Anyone else heard of this? [/QUOTE] Yep, sorta, anyway. An math teacher I had in Jr. High insisted that “and” in a number was to be used only to denote the decimal point. So one should never say, for example, “Four million and seventeen dollars” ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/11 "2006-10-11T19:38:40Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] This is a little off topic, but according to my old roomate (who is a math major and generally anal about this kind of stuff), .75 should not be pronounced “point seven five.” He is convinced that it should only be pronounced " seventy five thousandths. 3.24? Three and twenty four thousandths. Any other pronunciation is wrong. Anyone else heard of this? [/QUOTE] I think you probably mean seven hundred and fifty thousandths and three and two hundred and forty thousandths. I did use this convention back when expressing imperial units in a machine shop. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/12 "2006-10-11T19:51:13Z")
OK, I must be getting senile. Coulda sworn I’d learned that the first place right of the decimal is tenths, the second hundredths, and the third thousandths. Thus 0.75 could be read as 75 hundredths, and 3.24 could be read as 3 and 24 hundredths ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/13 "2006-10-11T20:02:12Z")
In French it’s “virgule,” which is the word for comma. So 3,6 would be said “trois virgule six.” Unless I’m horribly wrong, of course. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/14 "2006-10-11T20:03:53Z")
As **Spectre of Pithecanthropus** said, the comma is the standard notation here. However we often encounter the point in writing. Among the reasons are non-internationalized software and its output, pocket calculators etc. Even in those cases it is still always spoken as a comma. In addition to that there is another little difference that **Spectre of Pithecanthropus** got right but it’s probably not so obvious. We always include the leading zero. [QUOTE=brewha] He is convinced that it should only be pronounced " seventy five thousandths. 3.24? Three and twenty four thousandths. Any other pronunciation is wrong. [/QUOTE] Did he mention how he handles non-terminating decimals? ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/15 "2006-10-11T20:19:12Z")
:smack: :smack: :smack: Yes, to all those who noticed, I did mean hundreths. As far as non terminating decimals, I started rambling out a post, but I really don’t know what he would say about that. I’ll have to ask next time I see him. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/16 "2006-10-11T20:20:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist] “wrong?” [/QUOTE] You’re too clever by nought point five. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/17 "2006-10-11T21:02:20Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] This is a little off topic, but according to my old roomate (who is a math major and generally anal about this kind of stuff), .75 should not be pronounced “point seven five.” [/QUOTE] That sounds a lot more like him being anal than him being a math major. I’ve been around plenty of math people, and I don’t recall any of them having a problem with “point seven five.” A case could be made that pronouncing it “seventy-five hundredths” is more accurate and more descriptive, but to insist on it is pedantic, sort of like insisting that the year 1968 be pronounced “one thousand nine hundred sixty-eight.” ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/18 "2006-10-11T21:35:06Z")
Well, this is coming from the same guy that insists that 9/9 is very close to, but does not equal, 1. His arguement? 1/9 = .111111…, 2/9 = .2222222…, … , 8/9 = .88888…, 9/9 = .9999999… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/19 "2006-10-11T21:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] Well, this is coming from the same guy that insists that 9/9 is very close to, but does not equal, 1. His arguement? 1/9 = .111111…, 2/9 = .2222222…, … , 8/9 = .88888…, 9/9 = .9999999… [/QUOTE] oh, no… without uncovering _that_ old chestnut, your math major friend is simply wrong and will have to come to terms with .9999=1 if he wants to stay a math major. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083/20 "2006-10-11T21:56:48Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] oh, no… without uncovering _that_ old chestnut, your math major friend is simply wrong and will have to come to terms with .9999=1 if he wants to stay a math major. [/QUOTE] “.9999\*\*..\*\*. = 1,” that is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-pronounce-0-75-or-3-24/376083.md?page=2)