Reading numbers...

[edelweis]

Quick question:

How does one read hexadecimal and decimal numbers in Chinese?

For instance

0xEF76B49D

0.45786515

[skylee]

0.45786515 = 零點四五七八六五一五

[Yezze]

零點

So, that's how to right "0." (emphasis on the .)?

[Glenn]

Yes. 點 is also used in web addresses, like www點chinese-forums點com.

[edelweis]

thanks Skylee

[jbradfor]

How about hex numbers, e.g. 0xEF76B49D?

In English I would say "Hex E F seven 6 B".... How about in Chinese?

[Glenn]

I was kind of hoping the Wikipedia page 十六進位 would clear it up a bit, but I'm not sure it does (at least it didn't for me). Would you just read it 十六進位 and then "A one six B", for instance?

[roddy]

I'll wager nobody ever actually has to read hex numbers out aloud (surely anyone who needs to will lack the social skills to speak?) but it'll just be the numbers as individual digits and the letters as English letters (with the Chinese pronunciation, naturally).

[edelweis]

I do lack a lot of social skills =* but sometimes I do ask colleagues "error 0xEF45BA34 occurred in your code, what's that about?" or "how come register 45A reads 789EF after a reset" or "is address 0x80000000 remapped by the MMU" etc.

I had ended up assuming the Chinese read each letter and number individually as you suggest, and as Skylee described for decimal numbers (which is perhaps the same as in English? But definitely different from what I say in French)

[Glenn]

Yeah, come to think of it I can't say I've ever heard them read in English, or it's been so long that I don't remember. I would probably just read off the digits if I had to, like roddy said.

[jbradfor]

Exactly what edelweis said! [re: "is address 0x80000000 remapped by the MMU" - yes, when the upper bit of the EA is set, that is no longer EA==RA mode.]

OK, I admit that most of the time I'd just IM the question, even when they are down the hall from me, but sometimes I do actually talk with my coworkers.

[edelweis]

New questions about reading numbers, I wrote my guesses, can you please tell me whether they are correct and what is the most common way to read these:

100KB = "一百kilobyte" or "一百千字节" or ??

30%～40% = "从三十百分之到四十百分之" or "三四十百分之" or ??

[skylee]

Bear in mind that I am a HKer.

100KB = "一百kilobyte" or "一百千字节" or ??

I say 一百K-byte or 一百KB.

30%～40% = "从三十百分之到四十百分之" or "三四十百分之" or ??

I say -

a. 百分之三十到/至百分之四十 [or 百分之三十到/至四十] or

b. 三十巴仙到/至四十巴仙 [or 三十到/至四十巴仙]

c. or simply 三十 percent 到/至四十percent [or 三十到/至四十percent] .

[Glenn]

I didn't know there was a Chinese transliteration for percent. I've always heard it as the fraction (百分之什麽什麽). Do you think that's an HK thing too, skylee? Or do you not know?

[skylee]

Do you think that's an HK thing too, skylee?

No I don't think so. Try the Taiwan MOE dictionary. It says "巴先：百分之幾。英語 percent的音譯，符號為％。或譯作「巴仙」。"

The HK thing is just to say it in English.

[Glenn]

Ah, OK. Thanks. That's good to know. I may start hearing it now that I'm aware of it.

[edelweis]

thanks Skylee

[jbradfor]

I say 一百K-byte or 一百KB.

Strictly speaking, the kilo-prefix should be a lower-case k, e.g. kB.

[edelweis]

Still reading figures

could someone tell me how to read these? The / thing has me perplexed...

0.07元/6秒

0.39元/分钟

[skylee]

每六秒七分

每分鐘三毛/角九分