Number to Words and licencing

John Ralls jralls at ceridwen.fremont.ca.us
Sun Nov 3 23:54:46 EST 2013


On Nov 3, 2013, at 6:45 PM, Buddha Buck <blaisepascal at gmail.com> wrote:

> In the US at least it is customary to write out the amount and put it in
> digits.  My checkbook in front of me has a form like:
> 
> 
> Pay to the order of _________________________________________________ $
> ______
> _______________________________________________________________ Dollars
> 
> I am expected to fill it out as:
> 
> Pay to the order of _John Smith_____________________________________
> $123.45
> _One Hundred Twenty Three and 45
> Cents----------------------------------------------__ Dollars
> 
> I would never expect that second line to be "One-Two-Three and Four-Five
> Cents".  I believe I have seen some computer-generated checks which would
> fill out the second line as "123.45****************" and not bother
> converting it to spelled-out numbers.
> 
> I once made out a check for the amount "Twenty Even" and got charged $27,
> so the amount in English does get read, even if incorrectly.  The rule is
> that if the number (the $123.45) and the text (the "one hundred...")
> disagree, the text takes precedent.

Actually, if the text and number disagree the bank is supposed to reject the check.

Anyway, the question isn't what's the right way to write out the amount in words for each language, the question is whether the Wikipedia article cited earlier in the thread is correct that checks are used only in the US, UK, and Canada. If that's so, we don't need to localize it at all.

Regards,
John Ralls




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