The first one
I’d say one point thirty-two. As others noted, much depends on geography.
Personally, I say the “actual” number up to 3 or 4 decimal places, with a lot of the reason depending on the specific context. If I had to asses, I’d say I say the “whole” number in over 50% of cases for 3 digits, and in about 10% for 4 digits. Anything over 4 decimal places and I fall back to individual digits.
Depending on the necessary precision it could be “a meg and change” 😁
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.
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”)
Usually one point three two
I grew up with science classes telling us always state the digits individually. One point three two.
Math class taught me to be precise I should always say “1 and 32 hundredths Megabytes”
I don’t think that’s any more precise, just more verbose (read: inefficient).
Ten-million-five-hundred-and-sixty-thousand bits.
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, or one three two if it’s obvious from context where the decimal point is. That’s how you’re meant to pronounce digits after the decimal point in general.
One point four four
I have heard people drop the “point” and say “One Fourty-four”.
Tree fiddy!
criminal!
“One fourty-four Em Bee floppy”
That’s exactly how they said it!
that’s how i’d say it in hungarian, except i’d drop the MB too. “egy negyvennégyes flopi”
Heresy!
First question, and it’s important: Are you Doc Brown?
Neither.
It’s pronounced: “one and thirty-two hundreths of a megabyte”. Properly.
But idgaf how you pronounce it as long as I understand exactly what you’re saying. Personally, “one point three two”.
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
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.
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!
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
I agree that the precision is not that valuable as some have said. I’d just read the numbers off as one point two three megabytes since anyone who cares can reconstruct the number, anyone who doesn’t can stick to the first few sig figs.
For 257.62 GB I’d say “two hundred fifty seven point six two”. Yep. I put in the effort for the most significant of the digits, I dont bother beyond that.
8249.19 GB? About 8 terabytes. Doesnt really matter anymore.
