challenge

[Thomas Okken]

(06-23-2018 12:45 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  

(06-23-2018 10:48 AM)grsbanks Wrote:  No. We would only say that if we saw the fraction \(4\frac{3}{10}\)

I would translate it to \(\frac{12}{10}\). Shouldn't it be \(4 + \frac{3}{10}\)?

Does saying two numbers right after each other imply multiplication in Italian?

Fractions can cause interesting ambiguities in spoken Dutch, too:

100 \(\frac{10}{25}\)
honderd tien vijfentwintigste
(one hundred, ten twenty-fifths)

\(\frac{110}{25}\)
honderdtien vijfentwintigste
(one hundred and ten twenty-fifths)

The only difference between the spoken versions of those two numbers is in their intonation.

3 \(\frac{7}{10}\)
drie zeven tiende
(three, seven tenths)

\(\frac{3}{17}\)
drie zeventiende
(three seventeenths)

etc.
Note that we never use "en" ("and") when saying numbers. Well, some people do, but they all seem to be from the pre-WWII generation... (*)

Needless to say, people don't use fractions unless they're very simple ones, like one and a half kilos of apples, that sort of thing. In school we were taught only the straightforward "pi equals three point one four one five nine" style of pronouncing decimal numbers.

(*) EDIT: With a few exceptions, e.g. 2 \(\frac{1}{2}\) is "twee en een half." I think it's because the unstressed "een" would otherwise mess up the rhythm of that phrase, but I admit I need to think about it, it's a bit more complicated than I thought.