Pronouncing numbers
Wenn pronouncing numbers, we deal quite strange with the order of the various digits.
Explanation
Take the number 1748. If you do it correctly you say
one tausend seven hundred and fourty eight
but everybody calls it
seventeen hundred and fourty eight
You can think of more radical soöutions. With the introduction of arabic numerals we have also choosen for the arabic style. Numbers are right-aligned. When adding numbers you must work from right-to-left, while we always write from left-to-right. Why don't we turn that the other way? That this is not a problem shows the calculation of 1748 + 3205 = 4953 below
8471
5023 +
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
3594
We're not used to it, that is why it is tricky, but it works fine. Of course it sounds very strange to us if you would pronounce it as
three fifty nine hundred four tausend
but is is quite possible.