"One aspect I find a bit con..."

https://arbital.com/p/2g6

by Emile Kroeger Mar 9 2016


One aspect I find a bit confusing in this explanation: the difference between the notations "3 / 2" and "3 : 2". In my mind, both correspond to "one and a half". But then suddenly I run into 3:2:6 and get pretty confused.

However, after investigating a bit, the usage of the colon ( : ) for division is common in France (I studied most of my Maths in France), but not in English-speaking countries, where / and ÷ are used instead (we would write "3 : 2 = 1,5"). So when you people use ":" you're not talking about division at all, but only ratios, so it makes sense.

I'm not sure this warrants special extra explanations unless other people get confused by the same thing (Apparently Germans use the colon for division too).


Comments

Emile Kroeger

(I went ahead and added a note on that anyway)