Period before coma???

Question

Why is a period use first in a big number before a coma? And is this used by all spanish?

example: 16.967,32

Answer 1

Countries using Arabic numerals with decimal comma:

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada (French-speaking), Costa Rica, Croatia (comma used officially, but both forms are in use elsewhere), Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg (uses both separators officially), Macau (in Portuguese text), Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, but dot point is commonly used in business), Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam.

Countries where a dot is used:

Australia, Brunei, Botswana, Canada (English-speaking), Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Korea (both North and South), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe.

So, as you can see it´s not only Spanish speaking countries using that convention.

wow, I have never seen it before. - 0021954c, FEB 16, 2010

Answer 2

This not have anything to do with Spanish.

Some countries use "." and others use "," to separate thousands in the numbers.

There is a map in this link that shows who uses what.

Answer 3

well I put the comma after the thousand and got the wrong answer. So I was just woundering about this. Never seen it the other way around. Thanks to all for your help.

Answer 4

there really is no difference and one can sort of use it interchangeably. Sort of.

there IS a difference! - mediterrunio, FEB 17, 2010

Answer 5

Countries using Arabic numerals with decimal comma:

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada (French-speaking), Costa Rica, Croatia (comma used officially, but both forms are in use elsewhere), Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroes, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg (uses both separators officially), Macau (in Portuguese text), Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, but dot point is commonly used in business), Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam.

Countries where a dot is used to mark the radix point include:

Australia, Brunei, Botswana, Canada (English-speaking), Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Korea (both North and South), Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe.

Just corrected a formatting error that made the text stretch horizontally in a single line (making it necessary to scroll horizontally). - webdunce, FEB 16, 2010

thank you! now I want to delete this because I posted it twice :-/ - mediterrunio, FEB 17, 2010

Answer 6

I think that in Spanish, periods are used as commas are used in English and vise versa. For instance, one thousand and a half in English would be 1,000.5; however, in Spanish it would be 1.000,5.... I think.

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PLEASE correct me if I am wrong