The first one is correct as others have said, but the second one is not ambiguous enough to confuse anyone nor weird enough for anyone to bat an eye at, you’re fine with either.
I’d say the second one is more correct, it sounds so weird pronouncing the digits singularly
I’d say the second one is more correct
In this case, it’s not about what sounds good or personal opinion, there is a standard name for that number for a reason. If I go around calling 100 “one oh oh” or “tenty ten”, it’s clear what number I mean but I can’t honestly call it more correct, because there’s a standard English name for it.
To demonstrate a part of why it’s clearer that way, put these numbers in ascending numerical order: (e.g. 1, 2, 3, … )
- one point three
- one point twenty-nine
- one point thirty
- one point thirty-one
- one point three-thousand-and-fifty-two
Hopefully this clarifies that we’re not actually dealing with a “thirty-two” when we’re talking about 1.32 (edit: that said, when we’re talking about version numbers, e.g. Linux kernel 4.20, which is greater than Linux kernel 4.9, then we’d say “four point twenty”)
One point thirty two
Depending on the necessary precision it could be “a meg and change” 😁
One point three two. To me, thirty two is an integer.
The only way you could use ‘thirty two’ correctly for that number would be ‘one and thirty two hundredths’ which would be pretty unusual.
Agree. For things like semantic versioning, in which “1.20.1” and “1.2.1” are two different things, you want to pronounce them “one point twenty point one” and “one point two point one”, respectively. But that is a bit of an outlier. File size should be pronounced “normally”, because “1.20” and “1.2” are the same value.
I disagree. I would personally find one point two zero point one to be more natural and easier to understand.
In that case it’s actually the twentieth (or more likely twenty first) minor version though, it’s not actually a decimal
I disagree. I would personally find one point two zero point one to be more natural and easier to understand.
I disagree with that, because we’re dealing with a number and not a fraction. Linux kernel 4.20 is not equal to Linux kernel 4.2, we’re actually dealing with the integer 20 here. (yes, alphabetical sorting on a download server has lead me to download an outdated kernel version once)
Don’t you know that my head canon is universal canon? /s
You make a compelling point. I concede to your logic, but refuse to change my ways.
One point three two megs
Usually one point three two
“about a meg” because it’s almost unthinkable anyone cares about 3 tenths of a meg much less 2 hundredths.
“about a meg” because it’s almost unthinkable anyone cares about 3 tenths of a meg much less 2 hundredths.
Tell me you never used floppy discs as a storage medium without telling me.
I’d round up to one and a half. Also remove “bytes” and “bites”. 1.32 MB is “one and a half megs” or even “a meg and a half”
Decimals are usually spelt out a digit at a time. 3.14159 would be three point one four one five nine, not three point fourteen thousand one hundred and fifty nine. 37.32 would be thirty-seven point three two. If it’s not a decimal but something like a version string then you could say v3.14 is version three point fourteen, and three point one four might be confused with 3.1.4 even though you didn’t say the second point. IP addresses are a bit mixed; I’d say ten ten, but also one nine two dot one six eight.
“One point three two”, because otherwise the question is ‘thirty two what’. Consider what happens if we put a zero on the end — does it become “one point three hundred and twenty” despite being exactly the same number?
Yeah and what is 1.032?
A rounding error
I’d probably say “one point oh three two” for that one though
Yeah me too. Just wondering what the other way speakers would say
One and thirty-two hundreths
I mostly heard it one point thirty two? Grew up in Sweden, living in France. If someone says one point three two I’d assume they’re Americans.
I might be totally wrong, just stating what I have heard
No that’s interesting, I was wondering if there was a cultural divide.
Thirty two sounds so alien to me, but I heard it in a Nerdstalgic video and wondered if it was an American thing
Definitely, in frech itd be un point trente-deux mégaoctets or 1.32mo
edit: forgot not everyone speaks french, the french version is one point thirty-two
oh interesting!
Swedish would do the same as french, en komma trettitvå. Potentially some military would splice it up en komma tre två.
same in denmark!
Interesting - is there a point at which you’d switch to saying individual digits? Like if you’re listing eight digits of pi, is it still three point fourteen million, one hundred fifty-nine thousand, two hundred sixty-five?
There doesnt seem to be a hard line, but at some point, yes. If i had to i’d put it i’d pur it once you get past the millions.
But theres also people who say it like people in english. It might be a regional thing.
Tell you what, i’ll ask around today and see what people say.
I had the same experience (also European), but didn’t know the Americans changed it specifically for bytes
We don’t. That’s just the normal way most people pronounce numbers with a decimal point. The big exception is prices: $1.32 is often pronounced “one thirty two”.
Oh I see, thank you
Its pronounced ‘About four thirds megabytes.’
growing up with floppy disks and diskettes on the east coast US it was ‘one point two megabyte’ and ‘one point four four megabyte’ exclusively
One point three two emm bee 😁
The former.