Numbers
3. Decimals
3.1. Decimal currency
Like many other countries, we use a decimal currency system. We count in pounds and pennies (pence) and one hundred pence (100p) equals one pound (£1).
Monetary amounts are written with whole pounds (multiples of 100 pence) followed by a decimal point (.) and any remaining pence (adding up to less than 100) after the decimal point.
For example:
- £3.25 (3 pounds and 25 pence)
- £4.99 (4 pounds and 99 pence)
- £8.09 (8 pounds and 9 pence)
Note: Only two places are required after the decimal point, when counting money, as we only need to record values between 00 (zero) and 99 pence.
Try it out
How would you write 7 pounds and 100 pence?
100 pence is equal to 1 pound, so we actually have 8 pounds in total.
This would be written as £8.00 indicating 8 pounds and no pence.
Prior to ‘decimalisation’ in February 1971, the UK’s money system was a bit more complicated!
A pound was worth 4 crowns, or 20 shillings, or 240 pennies. Various other coins represented multiples of a penny, such as the threepenny bit (three pence), sixpence and half a crown.