Proposal for modifying gnucash to use exact quantities

[John Hasler]

Richard Wackerbarth writes:
> Actually, price is a rational and quantity is an integer.  (At least in
> the pumps that I helped program)

I'm not talking about gasoline anymore, but about prices and quantities in
general.  Treating price and quantity as reals (always rationals or
integers in practice) allows for whatever wonky deal buyer and seller see
fit to make for whatever bizarre materials they choose to deal in.

> The metering of the delivery was done by a positive displacement pump
> which delivered a fixed amount on each stroke.

Thus you were counting strokes, not gasoline.

> That really depends upon the "packaging" of the item and the value of a
> distinguishable package.

Yes.  Some things come in distinguishable packages.  Others don't.

> And I can be reasonably sure that I would not receive either 19 or 21
> "747"s when I pay for exactly 20.

In other words, if your count and the vendor's count differ by too much you
will dispute the bill.  How much is too much depends on the product.

At the end of the day, you agree to pay an _exact_ amount of money for
whatever the vendor piles up on your loading dock.  This amount may or may
not correspond exactly to quoted_price * quantity_received.

The amount of stuff your vendor records as having left his inventory
heading in your direction may differ slightly from the amount you tell your
inventory system you received and neither of you will necessarily get bent
out of shape.  The same cannot be said of the amount of money he asks you
to pay him and the amount you actually pay.
-- 
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, Wisconsin