From: Kevin Brown (graphity@adelaide.on.net)
Date: Sun Oct 26 2003 - 20:37:23 CST
Further to my earlier reply to Simon Baker about the "correct" symbol for
the Australian dollar, the "official" position is documented at
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/c7103f5100c7663fca2569de00293f3c?
OpenDocument.
Regarding the currency symbols, the specific recommendation of the
Decimal Currency Board were that:
"(a) the symbol for the dollar is $ a capital S with two vertical
strokes; acceptable alternatives may be used, for example, an S crossed
by one vertical stroke;
(b) the symbol for the cent is a small letter c; again acceptable
alternatives may be used, for example, a c with a stroke through it or
some stylised version of the c;
(c) where it is necessary to distinguish the Australian dollar from
overseas currencies, the letter A should be placed immediately after the
dollar sign - $A;"
These specific recommendations were to be read in the context of the
Board's overall recommendations that:
"It is not considered practicable to prescribe, for all purposes, exact
symbols for dollars and cents, or precise methods of expressing dollars
and cents in words or figures"
and, also,
"The symbols chosen to express dollars and cents should involve the
minimum change to existing printing and other equipment"
So it seems that Simon's and my instruction at school were both far more
rigid than what was officially intended.
Incidentally, as far as I know, neither the dollar symbol nor cent symbol
have ever appeared on Australia's paper money or coinage.
Is this unusual?
Kevin
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Jan 18 2007 - 15:54:24 CST