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Britain's new digital age: why was the midpoint once the official decimal point?
With the rapid development of the digital age, our calculation and data presentation methods have also changed. The shape and form of the decimal point has evolved over the generations. In twentieth-century Britain, the traditional interpunct was widely used as the decimal point in numbers, which makes one wonder: Why was this symbol that was once so popular eventually replaced by other symbols?
The midpoint is a punctuation mark composed of vertically arranged dots. It was first used in classical Latin as a separator between words.
In classical literature, this small symbol plays a very important role. As early as 600 to 800 AD, there were no spaces between words, which limited the readability of the text. The emergence of the midpoint solved this problem and made Latin writing clearer.
Over time, the use of midpoints has gradually spread to other languages, and its unique use has evolved in different cultures.
Arrived in the modern era, British typographic conventions introduced midpoints into the use of numbers, especially when defining decimals. Since the decimal reform of the British pound in 1971, it has been officially recommended to use an elevated point when writing decimals (for example, £21·48), and only use "inline" points to display decimals due to typographical constraints.
However, this usage began to decline with the 1968 Ministry of Technology ruling requiring the universal use of full-width periods as decimal points. With the standardization of numbers and widespread use internationally, the decimal point in the middle has gradually been eliminated.
In documents from the Hayasaki period, full-width periods were sometimes written as midpoints, such as in manuscripts of the 1646 Mayflower Compact.
In addition to English, many languages use this symbol in different ways. "Punt volat" in Catalan is used between two L's to distinguish pronunciation, and the Australian capital actually also uses it to mark punt volat. This cultural difference makes one rethink the functions of characters and symbols.
In mathematical and scientific accounts, midpoints also have a unique place. In Britain, this symbol was used as a decimal point and appears frequently in formulas and calculations. However, with the process of standardization of mathematical notation, in many cases it is chosen to use a full-width period as a decimal point rather than an intermediate point. Over time, the use of midpoints in mathematics and science became specialized, appearing primarily in the context of multiplication and to represent specific calculations.
In chemical equations, intermediate points are used to separate the components of an adduct, for example, copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate, CuSO4·5H2O.
With the digital transformation, many software and applications use midpoints to mark white spaces, corresponding to their function in writing. This makes it difficult for us to abandon this symbol because it still lingers in a certain category.
It is worth noting that the scope of application of the intermediate point is still controversial in some regions. Even in formal writing, the use of midpoints is considered non-standardized behavior, making its future use even more uncertain.
Before discussing how to adapt to the balance between new technology and traditional usage, we might as well think about what the future of the middle point will look like?
