# When did we stop putting commas in large numbers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099 "2011-08-09T16:48:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/21 "2011-08-10T00:43:26Z")
What kind of grab-ass cellphone company do you work for? I’ve had T-Mobile for 8 years and none of my phones have cared if there’s a 1 before the area code or not. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/22 "2011-08-10T00:46:20Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > As somebody who works for a cell phone company, I don’t care if you format with hyphens, periods, spaces, or parentheses, but please, please stop putting a one before the area code. > > That’s not part of the phone number, that’s the button you hit for long-distance service on a landline. > > And _that’s_ why your outgoing texts keep failing. You’re right; 1 is the sent-paid trunk dialling digit. (And 0 is the non-sent-paid trunk dialling digit, for when you want to call collect.) Or you put the plus sign before the one and acknowledge one in its true majesty as the North American telephonic country code. +1 800 555 1212. 🙂 > [@Lare](#): > > 1 (800) 555-1212 > > Old school! _ahem_ In electronics school they taught me that brackets surrounded an item that was optional. This, in an area with seven-digit dialling, you’d write (555) 555-1212. However, for those of us who live in areas with ten-digit dialling, we write 555-555-1212. Because we no longer have a choice; we must dial the area code. And if you’re in an area of the NANP where the dialling plan demands 1 before an area code, and you have ten-digit dialling, you’re more-or-less forced to dial it before every landline call. 1-555-555-1212. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/23 "2011-08-10T00:58:19Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > You know – 3,000 has become 3000, etc. In print, it depends on the house style of the publisher. I’m coauthor of a math textbook. In one edition, the copyeditor insisted on taking the commas out of all 4-digit numbers. In the next edition, a different copyeditor put them all back in. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/24 "2011-08-10T01:37:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What kind of grab-ass cellphone company do you work for? I’ve had T-Mobile for 8 years and none of my phones have cared if there’s a 1 before the area code or not. Uh, a big one. It’s not that we care, it’s that some messaging equipment (the newer stuff, I believe) doesn’t support the 1. It’s geographically-tied – some places it’ll work, some it won’t. I’ve been told the “won’t” areas will be growing over the years. Best practices right now is to exclude the one from your contacts; it’s never necessary, and will eventually be problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/25 "2011-08-10T01:42:02Z")
Fair enough. I think the app Bump automatically adds 1s to numbers, FWIW; I never consciously add them. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/26 "2011-08-10T01:57:34Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > I was taught with pens and pencils, and the space. It’s easy enough to make the groups distinct if you’re not writing in complete chicken scratch. > > A bigger problem is word processors that aren’t smart enough to make the space between digit groups non-breaking, and end up splitting the number over a line. There are those of us that were born with much poorer than average fine motor control. Just getting things legible takes far more effort for me than for most people. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/27 "2011-08-10T02:04:10Z")
All the payroll and accounting reports I’ve ever seen use commas. The standard currency formatting in Excel uses $ and commas. I create a lot of these reports in my job. Crystal reports and spreadsheets. I only use currency formatting on sub totals and report totals. The data in columns use stand comma formatting. 999,999,999.00 and yes 3,000 has a comma in it. The one thing that isn’t stand is the $. Some people like it next to the number. 12,567.00 and others fixed …12,567.00. I know the preferences of my users and design the report whichever way they want. In a big report with thousand or more lines the fixed $ makes the subtotals stand out better. ---
**Author:** ![Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/28 "2011-08-10T12:57:29Z")
The lack of commas in numbers is mainly due to the junior staff being too damn lazy to format their spreadsheets and text documents properly. Which reminds me, I should get back to work. Now, where’s my whip? ---
**Author:** ![thelark31](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e4f/32.png) [@thelark31](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelark31)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/29 "2011-08-10T13:41:11Z")
I can’t say I’ve seen them removed from numbers often. Now lists and general usage are another story, and it drives me NUTS. Sorry, not trying to hijack the thread, just felt my teeth grind a little. By the way, everyone with any interest in this thread needs to read some Lynne Truss. Hilarious, and is ruthless in shredding the awful use of punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/30 "2011-08-10T14:04:02Z")
I was taught at one point not to use them for four digit numbers. I decided to forgo this when I started getting numbers confused with years. I do use the space to the right of the decimal point, if I’m not copying and pasting from a calculator or something. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/31 "2011-08-10T14:47:43Z")
We in Ontario were taught in school to use spaces instead of commas when writing numbers with metric units. This also is the style on [population signs outside towns](http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=43.77379,-79.535426&spn=0.005005,0.010085&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=37.921701,82.617188&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=43.773544,-79.53537&panoid=DM0eMMKobNxjqhKYF02Gtw&cbp=12,192.61,,0,0.29). ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/32 "2011-08-10T17:44:25Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Too an extent, I try to accomadate the rest of the world in some stuff, accepting the metric system and day month year, but intend to keep my commas. To prevent confusion I usually do dates as 08aug11. Except there are combinations of languages where the same 3 letter abbreviation can mean two different months. A company I work for recently got burned by this when they expanded into a new country after standardizing all their dates to 08sep11 format because it was an “international standard.” Luckily I was using ISO 8601 internally (2011-09-08) and was only displaying in their 08sep11 format so I just had to change the date display method in one place to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/33 "2011-08-10T17:50:17Z")
“Lazy programmers”? You mean nearly all programmers? Have you meet many of us? Dealing with commas in user input is a pain. And it’s not just a question of stripping them out. What if the user types in “3,00” is that 300 or a typo? And do you really want to spend a half hour in a team meeting discussing if “,100” is an error or not and whether it should be flagged, etc.? Commas just create a whole bunch of extra error conditions to deal with which are a pain. So computer programmers hate, hate, hate commas. So users are routinely told to type in numbers without them. So people get used to not using them. Which leads to them becoming less common elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/34 "2011-08-10T18:02:38Z")
Here is an example right here in our own [message board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=619485). > [@](#): > > The surgery can be paid out of pocket for those without adequate health insurance for prices between 9000 and 15.000 US dollars. Confusing to me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/35 "2011-08-10T18:05:59Z")
> [@Lare](#): > > 1 (800) 555-1212 > > Old school! Nah, old school would be (800) KLondike5-1212 ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099/36 "2011-08-10T18:22:11Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Nah, old school would be (800) KLondike5-1212 Actually, if we go old school enough we’d just ask Central to get the other party, dadgumit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-we-stop-putting-commas-in-large-numbers/592099.md?page=1)