Chapter 38. Currency Units and Near Money
National currency systems have a base unit which may or may not be divided into subunits. Today, these subunits are usually in the ratio 1 base unit = 100 subunits or = 1000 subunits.
The only nondecimal currencies are Mauritania (1 ouguiya = 5 khoums) and Madagascar (1 ariary = 5 iraimbilanja). In both cases, the base unit has so little value that the subunit is not used, even in coins. As of June 12, 2009, the exchange rate was 1 U.S. dollar (USD) = 259.220 Mauritanian Ouguiya (MRO) and 1,895.90 Malagasy Ariary (MGA).
We like decimalized currencies because we use a decimal number system and accounting is much easier than handling fractions in a computer. But decimal currency is actually a “recent” invention. ...
Get Joe Celko's Data, Measurements and Standards in SQL now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
