Comma in equations?

[DAVID IBBETSON <ibbetson -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM>]

Elsa Kapitan-White writes:
>The company style guide calls for a comma in numbers with five or more
>digits. I know this rule doesn't apply to page numbers, but what about
>numbers substituted for variables in  show-your-work examples:

>A = (43,560)(160) = 6,969,600 ft^2    or    A = (43560)(160) = 6969600 ft^2

>The latter looks so dense! I know we don't use the scientific style of
>spacing between groups of three digits in long numbers.


>Elsa Kapitan-White

I would put the commas in and would do so even if there were only four
digits.. I omit them in dates and when using inferior software that can't
handle commas in the middle of numbers. Similarly I always place the zero
before the point in decimal fractions: 0.7135. The standard convention seems
to call for commas to be omitted after the decimal point: 123,456.789101112

Remember to interchange dots and commas when writing for continental Europe
and ?their former colonies..

David (the idiot) Ibbetson

David Ibbetson                                   ibbetson -at- idirect -dot- com
133 Wilton St, #506, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5A 4A4
Phone (416) 363-6692    Fax (416) 363-4987

If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the
battle? -- I Corinthians xiv, 8
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