I suppose this Swiss convention (is it supposed be a prime or a
typewriter-style apostrophe?), like many others, would be useful as a
thousands-digit separator. But I understand that in some countries a prime
is used as the decimal marker (can anyone verify this), and it could also be
confused with the arc-minute or foot symbol.
In any event, the international community (SI, ISO) has already
decided--wisely, I think--that the simplest solution to the
traditional-number-punctuation-confusion problem is a space for the
thousands separator and either a period or comma for the decimal marker. So
I think we should follow the international standard, which is well
established in Europe and making inroads even here in the reactionary US of
A. Our better science texts now use the space, and I have found that people
don't really notice the missing comma, but they would sure be bothered by an
unfamiliar prime.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gregory Peterson
> >
> > On her [Swiss lecturer's] slides, when ever a number greater than 9999
was given
> the apostrophe thousands space separator was used.
>
> e.g.. 15'000 Retinol Equivalents of Vitamin A
>
> This is the first time that I have seen this used outside of the List.
>
