Importing data — How numbers are read

A number keeps every digit it was written with. 51.50735 is stored as 51.50735, not rounded. A thousands separator, a currency symbol and a percent sign come off, and the number is stored without them. A comma or a dot can be the decimal mark or a thousands separator, depending on where the file was written. Most numbers can only be read one way: • 188,50 has two digits after its comma, so the comma is the decimal mark and the number is 188.5. • 1,024.50 and 1.024,50 each use both marks, and the one written last is the decimal mark. Both are 1024.5. • 1 024 and 1'024 are grouped by a space or an apostrophe, which is never a decimal mark. Both are 1024. One shape reads two ways: one to three digits, a comma or a dot, and exactly three more. 1,024 is one thousand and twenty-four where a comma separates thousands, and a little over one where it is the decimal mark. A number like that is read the way the other numbers in its column are written. If any of them can only use a decimal comma, such as 188,50, it is read with a decimal comma too. Where nothing in the column settles it, it follows how numbers are written where you are.