Proposal for modifying gnucash to use exact quantities

[Richard Wackerbarth]

On Tue, 25 Jul 2000, Glen Ditchfield wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, Bill Gribble wrote:
> >   1. gnc_commodity knows about the smallest possible transactional
> >      unit for trading the commodity (for example, 1/100 of a US Dollar
> >      or 1/1000 of a mutual fund share).

> Is the smallest transaction unit a property of the commodity, or of the
> account?

I believe that you must be prepared to handle different subdivisions of the 
same fundamental unit.

There is no universal subdivision that can be applied to a given commodity.
I might be using pennies in my bank account and dollars on my tax return both 
of which represent the same "Repairs" Expense Account.

Money has intrinsic value because it is readily accepted in trade and 
generally exchanged at face value and without commission. Technically, if I 
have a "dollar bill", or four "quarters", or ten "dimes", I have three 
different things. They are equivalent in the sense that I can exchange each 
of them for a soda and a penny. However, they are very unequal if I wish to 
purchase a phone call from an automated public phone.