Dear Mr Plumb, We are now using things called computers that can only work in base-10, hence why we are abandoning Lsd. As did SA, Aus, NZ. Not because of communism or the EEC. Thanks 1971
That's a stupid statement - computers don't work in base 10 (decimal)! Base 10 is a very bad for divisibility, unlike £.S.D., which is very good! Computers operate in binary powers of 2, and programming bases of 2 (binary), 8 (octal) and 16 (hexadecimal) etc. Computers easily cope with £.S.D. It's just handling numbers which computers are very good at.
@@foxmoongaze Indeed one of the major banks in the UK (I believe Lloyds) still uses an L.s.d system underneath! (This may have changed in the last ten years or so, but was true until quite recently)
The first decimal banknotes aka series d, was introduced in the UK was the £20 from 9-7-1970, the £5 note on remembrance day 1971, the £10 note on the 20-2-1975, the £1 on the 9-2-1978 & the £50 on the 20-3-1981.
Thanks for posting. I was born in 1973. I'm shocked to learn that £50's only appeared in 1981. To be honest I don't remember seeing one until around 1989 when I left school.
Ironically, the vast majority of British people alive today would be largely unfamiliar with the old money. Decimal currency is all they have ever known.
The Russian Empire introduced decimal currency in 1704.:Peter the Great was very forward thinking. They adopted the silver dollar (which they called the “Rouble”) divided into 100 Kopeks. The French followed much later, in 1794 and the Americans in 1795.
We in Britain seem to be the only country who had, and still have, an issue with decimalisation. I never tend to see or hear similar stuff from other countries who also ditched £sd - such as Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Nigeria, Malta, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, etc
Regarding money, I agree with you. Sometimes I wonder if that is because such a tiny percentage of the local people had steady access to formal currency prior to decimal day. But I still often have problems with locals who won't use decimal measurements in length, distance etc. In Ceylon the people still use the perch as the measurement of land. I have never heard an English person use this antiquated unit. It creates problems when foreigners now work in land surveying or want to buy land themselves.
that is because the countries you mentioned decimalised their currency on the basis of 10 shillings. In contrast, UK decimalised the pound on the basis of 20 shillings. It's pretty easy to convert 120 old pence (10 shillings) to 100 cents (like in Australia) versus converting 240 old pence (20 shillings) to 100 new pence. It's very impossible to dilute 240 old pence into 100 new pence. This crazy decimalisation of UK resulted to rampant rounding up of prices.
@@friendly1999ph Yes, I thought so too. Ten bob into a dollar, one shilling into ten cents was simple. two bob into 20c a piece of cake, nothing really changed in Oz. The British Government, well, I don't know what they were thinking. They just had to be different.
I don't think we still have any problems with Decimalisation. The vast majority of people from back then are no longer with us. Absolutely nobody is campaigning to bring it back. Most people these days have absolutely no idea about pre decimal currency.
Harold Wilson was the prime minister when the 1st decimal coins released 3 years before decimalisation, 5 & 10 pence coins released in April 1968 & a year later is the 50 pence coin. It was his successor Edward Heath made Britain decimalised.
Wrong ... This documentary explains that the conservative's tried and failed with decimalization in the early 1960s. It was when Labour came to power in 1964 the process of decimalization was put into place (again as this documentary says) when the conservative's won the June 1970 general election, they could not stop the process as it would conclude within 7 months in February 1971... Look again at this documentary as it gives you the facts!.
People must have been better at maths then. Decimal is much more straightforward. How did the 60s children manage learning the old LSD then having to learn it again? I remember seeing exercise books in primary school with both systems in. The teacher just told us not to bother with the d and focus on the p!😂 I was born in 1967.
There was a need for Britain to change their style of currency before they would enter what we now know was the european union. I believe this is why no referendum was held, as it would be a referendum on whether we would join what was then known as the EEC.
You lot are going to drop your drawers when you change to kilometers per hour instead of MPH. 😂😂 It will happen you know, I had to do it fifty years ago in Australia.
Decimalisation was just a clever way to debase the currency without most people understanding it was happening. Decimal (Base 10) is not good for divisibility, unlike £.S.D., which is very good!
Britain’s switchover to the Decimal currency was long long overdue they should have switched over back in the 19th century like everyone else there’s a reason why everyone else apart from Britain moved over: It’s simpler to use much easy to add up 100 pence is a pound what could be simpler I think the fact that Britain ruled over a huge empire allowed it to get away with using out of date money and also using the out of date imperial system as a whole
I thought you poms did it all wrong. You seemed to halve every note and coin where as in in Oz we just made everything the same as it was. A ten bob note became a dollar. A shilling bit was ten cents. Five cents was sixpence. They all looked the same and were about the same value.
I wasn't alive then, but I don't understand why it was considered complicated. Trade in your shillings for a new 5p coin. Trade in 12 old pence for a new 5p coin. 6 for 2 pennies and a half penny. As I understand it they didn't even force you to trade in your shillings, they were still legal tender and they just were worth 5p. Though I wonder why they even bothered with the half penny. Could you even buy anything more than a single gumball for a half penny in 1971? Were people so poor that they couldn't get 12 old pence together to change their money? A shilling in 1971 was worth about 72p in 2021 with inflation. If you had one last sixpence left you could just give it to a friend to combine with his or give it to charity or something.
Some of the same attitudes towards immigration, LGBTQ+, climate change, etc. Ah M. Plumb, the great British public are not all as small-minded and bigoted as you were! (not even in the 70's)
For more than a thousand years, from the year 775 AD until 14-February 1971, England used the Carolingian monetary system. During those years, a Pound was worth 240 pence. This currency system continued until the formation of Great Britain (1700s) and United Kingdom (1800s). 1 Pound = 20 shillings 1 Shilling = 12 pence A penny is further divided into half penny and one-fourth penny called farthing. If the price of an item cost less than a shilling (pence only), it is written as 11d, 10d, 9d, 5¼d, etc. The letter "d" means "denarius". It is the Latin word for the standard silver coin introduced by the Romans. If the price has both shillings and pence, it is written with slash (/) as separator. Example: 15 shillings and 6 pence is written as 15/6. If the price is exactly 15 shillings without pence, it is written as 15/- If the price has pounds, shillings and pence, the separator can either be slash (/) or dash (-). Example: 2 pounds, 15 shillings and 6 pence is written as £2/15/6 or £2-15-6. When adding prices, you should have memorised the 12 Times Table to be able to add prices. For example, you bought 5 items in a supermarket: Item#1 is 15/7 Item#2 is 16/8 Item#3 is 17/9 Item#4 is 18/10 Item#5 is 19/11 Total in shillings and pence: 88/9 Total in £sd: £4/8/9 By adding all the shillings and all the pence, you will get a total of 85 shillings and 45 pence. To get the exact amount in shillings and pence, you need to think how many shillings are there in 45 pence. The answer is 3 shillings with a remainder of 9 pence. Add 3 shillings to 85 shillings; you'll get a total of 88 shillings. Therefore, the total amount you bought in the supermarket was 88 shillings and 9 pence (88/9) or 4 Pounds 8 shillings 9 pence (£4/8/9). This is the reason why back in the days, British children were taught to memorise the 12 Times Table. To make it simple, the old money of Britain was similar to the height of a person expressed in feet and inches. Examples: 5'7, 5'9, 5'11, 6'2. The amount in shillings is similar to the number of feet while the amount in pence is similar to the number of inches. A lot of people born after 1971 (or not yet an adult in 1971) thought that the Pounds, Shillings and Pence was a very difficult system when it was still in use in Britain. Videos in youtube always give the impression that it was a very complicated system. Someone even made a comment that it would be very difficult to give change if you are selling an item worth £1/5/9 (1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence) and the customer gave you a £5 note. hahahahaha... His comment shows that he did not live during the pre-decimal era. In schools, children were taught the arithmetic of the Pounds, Shillings and Pence system but in reality people in Britain don't count money in Pounds in their everyday lives; they only count in shillings and pence. It should be noted that after World War-2, there were only 3 banknotes in Britain: 10-shilling note, £1 note (20 shillings) and £5 note (100 shillings). The £10 note (200 shillings) was only re-introduced in 1964 while the £20 note (400 shillings) was re-introduced in 1970. During the pre-decimal era, prices in street markets, stores, supermarkets, department stores and even petrol stations were expressed in shillings and pence only. At Harrods or Marks & Spencer, you would see the prices of items were 67/8, 45/6, 54/10, 49/11, etc. The "Pounds, Shillings and Pence" will only show on the cash register during check out. In street markets, there were no cash registers, sellers just count and compute for change in their heads or using a pen and paper. During that time, shilling was the de facto main unit of currency while the Pound was the de facto superunit. The Pound as the de jure main unit of currency was only expressed in prices of expensive products such as TVs, refrigerators, cars, etc., in real estate properties and in big business transactions especially in international trade and commerce. If an item only costs 1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence, it would be written as 25/9 instead of £1/5/9. If the customer gave a £5 note which is equivalent to 100 shillings, the customer's change is obviously 74/3. The seller would then give the customer three £1 notes (60 shillings), one 10-shilling note, two florin coins (4 shillings) and a 3-pence coin. For the sake of that guy's curiosity on how to compute for the change if the price of an item is expressed in Pounds Shillings and Pence, here's how it works: When it comes to giving or receiving a change, you only need to remember 20 and 12. There are 20 shillings in a Pound and there are 12 pence in a shilling. If the price of an item costs 1 Pound and 5 shillings (£1/5/-) and the money given by the customer was £5, round-up £1 (1 becomes 2) and then subtract it from £5 (5-2=3). Subtract 5/- from 20/- (20-5=15). Therefore, the customer's change is 3 Pounds and 15 shillings (£3/15/-) If the price of an item costs 1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence (£1/5/9) and the money given by the customer was £5, round-up both £1 (1 becomes 2) and 5/- (5 becomes 6). Subtract £2 from £5 (5-2=3) and subtract 6/- from 20/- (20-6=14). Subtract 9 pence from 12 pence (12-9=3). Therefore, the customer's change is 3 Pounds 14 shillings and 3 pence (£3/14/3) From a currency similar to feet and inches (like a person's height) to a currency based on 10s and 100s. This is the reason why a lot of people in Britain find it hard to adjust when decimalisation was implemented in 1971 plus the fact that the decimalisation format used by the British government was flawed. From a very flexible denomination of 240 pence to a Pound, the British government chose a cramped 100 "new pence" to a Pound. On 15-February 1971, the shilling was devalued to 5 "new pence" (no longer 12) so that one Pound would be equivalent to 100 "new pence". Among former British colonies that transitioned to decimal currency, Ghana is the best. Ghana's decimal currency called Cedi (₵) is equivalent to 8 shillings and 4 pence (8/4) or 100 pence. Therefore, all the old pence are equally convertible to the new decimal currency. No need to worry about adjustment of prices; only the name of the currency and its denomination will change. 8/4 is ₵1.00 which means one Ghanaian Pound is equal to two Cedis and 40 pesewa (£1=₵2.40). In 1970, Bermuda Islands followed Ghana's decimalisation format. One Bermudian Pound is equal to two Bermudian Dollars and 40 cents (£1=$2.40). When South Africa decimalised the South African Pound, it converted 10 shillings (120 pence) to the new currency called Rand. 120 pence were converted to 100 cents. A little adjustment needs to be made when it comes to pricing and balancing bank accounts because 1.20 pence shall be equivalent to 1 cent. One South African Pound is equal to two South African Rands (£1=R2.00). South Africa's format of decimalisation from Pounds to the new decimalised currency was followed by Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria. Britain did the worst decimalisation format. Britain converted 20 shillings (240 pence) to 100 pence. Inflation was the result. The government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson was too afraid to lose the Pound as Britain's currency that's why he followed the advice of the Bank of England to retain the Pound. BOE and Harold Wilson did not follow the format of Ghana's new decimalised currency based on 8/4 (100 pence) nor South Africa's version of decimalised currency based on 10/- (120 pence converted to 100 cents). Instead, Britain decimalised the Pound by shrinking its value from 240 pence to 100 pence only. Some people in Britain even thought that the value of their money/income has diminished because in every shilling they spend (5 new pence) they were ripped off by the government for 7 pence. Devaluing the shilling from 12 pence to 5 pence was not a joke especially during the time when prices were still cheap. The ill-conceived decimalisation of the Pound in 1971 was one of the "ingredients" of the economic disaster of Britain during the turbulent decade of the 1970s. It may not be the main reason but it contributed to the economic crisis during that time. Maybe it's true that 10 is simpler than 12 or the decimal currency system is simpler than imperial currency system but the transition of Britain to decimal currency system in 1971 was NOT simple.
Most people still use pounds and stones to measure their weight. No one ever suggests that it is “too complicated” to have a stone divided into fourteen pounds.
In July 1967, UK government decided to adopt the £1 = 100 pence system. This meant that each of the 20 shillings in a Pound shall be devalued from 12 pence to 5 pence. The market's reaction on this was swift. They sold their British Pounds in exchange for US dollars. In November 1967, the British Pound was devalued from £1=$2.80 to £1=$2.40.
Utter nonsense. The Decimal Currency Act 1967 became law on 14 July 1967, but the devaluation of Sterling wasn't until 18 November, four months later, and devaluation was a measure imposed by the UK government, not a reaction by the markets. Actual decimalisation did not devalue the Pound, as it was a 1:1 equivalent, regardless of going from 240 pennies to 100 pence; shilling coins, worth one-twentieth of a pound, were the direct equivalent of 5 new pence, and thus still one-twentieth of a pound.
Thanks for uploading this!
Dear Mr Plumb,
We are now using things called computers that can only work in base-10, hence why we are abandoning Lsd. As did SA, Aus, NZ. Not because of communism or the EEC.
Thanks
1971
That's a stupid statement - computers don't work in base 10 (decimal)! Base 10 is a very bad for divisibility, unlike £.S.D., which is very good! Computers operate in binary powers of 2, and programming bases of 2 (binary), 8 (octal) and 16 (hexadecimal) etc. Computers easily cope with £.S.D. It's just handling numbers which computers are very good at.
Dear Mr Plumb, how is business these days? 😆
@@foxmoongaze Indeed one of the major banks in the UK (I believe Lloyds) still uses an L.s.d system underneath! (This may have changed in the last ten years or so, but was true until quite recently)
The first decimal banknotes aka series d, was introduced in the UK was the £20 from 9-7-1970, the £5 note on remembrance day 1971, the £10 note on the 20-2-1975, the £1 on the 9-2-1978 & the £50 on the 20-3-1981.
Thanks for posting. I was born in 1973. I'm shocked to learn that £50's only appeared in 1981.
To be honest I don't remember seeing one until around 1989 when I left school.
its the way that america stick with weight in pounds
Ironically, the vast majority of British people alive today would be largely unfamiliar with the old money. Decimal currency is all they have ever known.
If you were born after Decimalisation why would you? It's not like anyone has been clambering to go back to the old system. It was crazy.
I see that on quiz shows. When asked questions like "What is a Gross" Faces go completely blank.
I was born after, pre decimal 240 divides better than 100, ask any Maths lover!
No it wasn’t. It was actually quite easy to use in practice.
LOL published on Feb 15, 2021 - Brilliant
The Russian Empire introduced decimal currency in 1704.:Peter the Great was very forward thinking. They adopted the silver dollar (which they called the “Rouble”) divided into 100 Kopeks. The French followed much later, in 1794 and the Americans in 1795.
This was from 2001
We in Britain seem to be the only country who had, and still have, an issue with decimalisation. I never tend to see or hear similar stuff from other countries who also ditched £sd - such as Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Nigeria, Malta, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, etc
Regarding money, I agree with you. Sometimes I wonder if that is because such a tiny percentage of the local people had steady access to formal currency prior to decimal day. But I still often have problems with locals who won't use decimal measurements in length, distance etc. In Ceylon the people still use the perch as the measurement of land. I have never heard an English person use this antiquated unit. It creates problems when foreigners now work in land surveying or want to buy land themselves.
that is because the countries you mentioned decimalised their currency on the basis of 10 shillings. In contrast, UK decimalised the pound on the basis of 20 shillings. It's pretty easy to convert 120 old pence (10 shillings) to 100 cents (like in Australia) versus converting 240 old pence (20 shillings) to 100 new pence. It's very impossible to dilute 240 old pence into 100 new pence. This crazy decimalisation of UK resulted to rampant rounding up of prices.
@@friendly1999ph Yes, I thought so too. Ten bob into a dollar, one shilling into ten cents was simple. two bob into 20c a piece of cake, nothing really changed in Oz.
The British Government, well, I don't know what they were thinking. They just had to be different.
I’m Australian and I wanted to go back to pre-decimal
I don't think we still have any problems with Decimalisation. The vast majority of people from back then are no longer with us. Absolutely nobody is campaigning to bring it back. Most people these days have absolutely no idea about pre decimal currency.
Harold Wilson was the prime minister when the 1st decimal coins released 3 years before decimalisation, 5 & 10 pence coins released in April 1968 & a year later is the 50 pence coin. It was his successor Edward Heath made Britain decimalised.
Wrong ... This documentary explains that the conservative's tried and failed with decimalization in the early 1960s. It was when Labour came to power in 1964 the process of decimalization was put into place (again as this documentary says) when the conservative's won the June 1970 general election, they could not stop the process as it would conclude within 7 months in February 1971... Look again at this documentary as it gives you the facts!.
It was introduced by the Labour government and too late to change by the time Heath got into power. Saying Heath decimalised Britain is disingenuous.
@@zeddeka labour had a large margin in 1966
@th8257 labour introduced the decimal coins in April 1968 but it hasn't decimalised properly until February 1971
It was this documentary got aired 4 months before Tony Blair got re-elected.
What do you think is the relevance of that?
@@Nickcooper625 30 years of decimalisation in the UK & the election was on the 7th about 4 months later
Let's get this watched before they scrap physical money all together
People must have been better at maths then. Decimal is much more straightforward. How did the 60s children manage learning the old LSD then having to learn it again? I remember seeing exercise books in primary school with both systems in. The teacher just told us not to bother with the d and focus on the p!😂 I was born in 1967.
I think that there should have been a referendum on Decimalisation. Without being disrespectful there was a lot of animosity towards new money
There was a need for Britain to change their style of currency before they would enter what we now know was the european union. I believe this is why no referendum was held, as it would be a referendum on whether we would join what was then known as the EEC.
Why? There weren't referendums in any of the former British territories when they switched from the pound to their own decimal currencies.
@@johnking5174 So you have any sources to back that up?
Plumb would have voted Brexit and waved a flag.
I don’t blame him, I did too.
@@holydiver73 🙄
Me to
@@holydiver73 What a cunty thing to do. Still, blue passport and a 50p coin. Such benefits.
You lot are going to drop your drawers when you change to kilometers per hour instead of MPH. 😂😂 It will happen you know, I had to do it fifty years ago in Australia.
We also did it almost 50 years ago in Canada.
Decimalisation was just a clever way to debase the currency without most people understanding it was happening. Decimal (Base 10) is not good for divisibility, unlike £.S.D., which is very good!
Bet they lost there shit when 20p came out 😂😂😂
That was 1982 - 11 years into decimalisation so it wasn't too turbulent, but was criticised for its size and shape
I love the 20p. It's well 😎.
Maybe they should done 1 royal=100d
Britain’s switchover to the Decimal currency was long long overdue they should have switched over back in the 19th century like everyone else there’s a reason why everyone else apart from Britain moved over:
It’s simpler to use much easy to add up 100 pence is a pound what could be simpler
I think the fact that Britain ruled over a huge empire allowed it to get away with using out of date money and also using the out of date imperial system as a whole
They say "With age comes wisdom". Watch this and you'll realise what a load of old crap that is.
I thought you poms did it all wrong. You seemed to halve every note and coin where as in in Oz we just made everything the same as it was. A ten bob note became a dollar. A shilling bit was ten cents. Five cents was sixpence. They all looked the same and were about the same value.
At least they kept the £.
@@Make_Australia_British_Again Yeah, OK. If you say so.
I wasn't alive then, but I don't understand why it was considered complicated. Trade in your shillings for a new 5p coin. Trade in 12 old pence for a new 5p coin. 6 for 2 pennies and a half penny. As I understand it they didn't even force you to trade in your shillings, they were still legal tender and they just were worth 5p.
Though I wonder why they even bothered with the half penny. Could you even buy anything more than a single gumball for a half penny in 1971? Were people so poor that they couldn't get 12 old pence together to change their money? A shilling in 1971 was worth about 72p in 2021 with inflation. If you had one last sixpence left you could just give it to a friend to combine with his or give it to charity or something.
it was a way to stop inflation, items in sixpence (2.5p) won't be rounded up.
items priced at fourpence (1.66667p) got rounded up to 2p
@@MingJianYap But back then could 2-3 new pence even buy anything meaningful? Those were candy prices. 1p got you a tiny, tiny gumball didn't it?
@@NozomuYume 2.5p could buy you a copy of the Daily MIrror in 1971.
@@NozomuYume Not really. One penny in 1971 was worth at least 15 pence today.
Some of the same attitudes towards immigration, LGBTQ+, climate change, etc. Ah M. Plumb, the great British public are not all as small-minded and bigoted as you were! (not even in the 70's)
And?
For more than a thousand years, from the year 775 AD until 14-February 1971, England used the Carolingian monetary system. During those years, a Pound was worth 240 pence. This currency system continued until the formation of Great Britain (1700s) and United Kingdom (1800s).
1 Pound = 20 shillings
1 Shilling = 12 pence
A penny is further divided into half penny and one-fourth penny called farthing.
If the price of an item cost less than a shilling (pence only), it is written as 11d, 10d, 9d, 5¼d, etc. The letter "d" means "denarius". It is the Latin word for the standard silver coin introduced by the Romans.
If the price has both shillings and pence, it is written with slash (/) as separator. Example: 15 shillings and 6 pence is written as 15/6. If the price is exactly 15 shillings without pence, it is written as 15/-
If the price has pounds, shillings and pence, the separator can either be slash (/) or dash (-). Example: 2 pounds, 15 shillings and 6 pence is written as £2/15/6 or £2-15-6.
When adding prices, you should have memorised the 12 Times Table to be able to add prices.
For example, you bought 5 items in a supermarket:
Item#1 is 15/7
Item#2 is 16/8
Item#3 is 17/9
Item#4 is 18/10
Item#5 is 19/11
Total in shillings and pence: 88/9
Total in £sd: £4/8/9
By adding all the shillings and all the pence, you will get a total of 85 shillings and 45 pence.
To get the exact amount in shillings and pence, you need to think how many shillings are there in 45 pence. The answer is 3 shillings with a remainder of 9 pence.
Add 3 shillings to 85 shillings; you'll get a total of 88 shillings.
Therefore, the total amount you bought in the supermarket was 88 shillings and 9 pence (88/9) or 4 Pounds 8 shillings 9 pence (£4/8/9).
This is the reason why back in the days, British children were taught to memorise the 12 Times Table.
To make it simple, the old money of Britain was similar to the height of a person expressed in feet and inches. Examples: 5'7, 5'9, 5'11, 6'2. The amount in shillings is similar to the number of feet while the amount in pence is similar to the number of inches.
A lot of people born after 1971 (or not yet an adult in 1971) thought that the Pounds, Shillings and Pence was a very difficult system when it was still in use in Britain. Videos in youtube always give the impression that it was a very complicated system. Someone even made a comment that it would be very difficult to give change if you are selling an item worth £1/5/9 (1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence) and the customer gave you a £5 note. hahahahaha... His comment shows that he did not live during the pre-decimal era. In schools, children were taught the arithmetic of the Pounds, Shillings and Pence system but in reality people in Britain don't count money in Pounds in their everyday lives; they only count in shillings and pence. It should be noted that after World War-2, there were only 3 banknotes in Britain: 10-shilling note, £1 note (20 shillings) and £5 note (100 shillings). The £10 note (200 shillings) was only re-introduced in 1964 while the £20 note (400 shillings) was re-introduced in 1970. During the pre-decimal era, prices in street markets, stores, supermarkets, department stores and even petrol stations were expressed in shillings and pence only. At Harrods or Marks & Spencer, you would see the prices of items were 67/8, 45/6, 54/10, 49/11, etc. The "Pounds, Shillings and Pence" will only show on the cash register during check out. In street markets, there were no cash registers, sellers just count and compute for change in their heads or using a pen and paper. During that time, shilling was the de facto main unit of currency while the Pound was the de facto superunit. The Pound as the de jure main unit of currency was only expressed in prices of expensive products such as TVs, refrigerators, cars, etc., in real estate properties and in big business transactions especially in international trade and commerce. If an item only costs 1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence, it would be written as 25/9 instead of £1/5/9. If the customer gave a £5 note which is equivalent to 100 shillings, the customer's change is obviously 74/3. The seller would then give the customer three £1 notes (60 shillings), one 10-shilling note, two florin coins (4 shillings) and a 3-pence coin. For the sake of that guy's curiosity on how to compute for the change if the price of an item is expressed in Pounds Shillings and Pence, here's how it works:
When it comes to giving or receiving a change, you only need to remember 20 and 12. There are 20 shillings in a Pound and there are 12 pence in a shilling.
If the price of an item costs 1 Pound and 5 shillings (£1/5/-) and the money given by the customer was £5, round-up £1 (1 becomes 2) and then subtract it from £5 (5-2=3). Subtract 5/- from 20/- (20-5=15). Therefore, the customer's change is 3 Pounds and 15 shillings (£3/15/-)
If the price of an item costs 1 Pound 5 shillings and 9 pence (£1/5/9) and the money given by the customer was £5, round-up both £1 (1 becomes 2) and 5/- (5 becomes 6). Subtract £2 from £5 (5-2=3) and subtract 6/- from 20/- (20-6=14). Subtract 9 pence from 12 pence (12-9=3). Therefore, the customer's change is 3 Pounds 14 shillings and 3 pence (£3/14/3)
From a currency similar to feet and inches (like a person's height) to a currency based on 10s and 100s. This is the reason why a lot of people in Britain find it hard to adjust when decimalisation was implemented in 1971 plus the fact that the decimalisation format used by the British government was flawed. From a very flexible denomination of 240 pence to a Pound, the British government chose a cramped 100 "new pence" to a Pound. On 15-February 1971, the shilling was devalued to 5 "new pence" (no longer 12) so that one Pound would be equivalent to 100 "new pence". Among former British colonies that transitioned to decimal currency, Ghana is the best. Ghana's decimal currency called Cedi (₵) is equivalent to 8 shillings and 4 pence (8/4) or 100 pence. Therefore, all the old pence are equally convertible to the new decimal currency. No need to worry about adjustment of prices; only the name of the currency and its denomination will change. 8/4 is ₵1.00 which means one Ghanaian Pound is equal to two Cedis and 40 pesewa (£1=₵2.40). In 1970, Bermuda Islands followed Ghana's decimalisation format. One Bermudian Pound is equal to two Bermudian Dollars and 40 cents (£1=$2.40). When South Africa decimalised the South African Pound, it converted 10 shillings (120 pence) to the new currency called Rand. 120 pence were converted to 100 cents. A little adjustment needs to be made when it comes to pricing and balancing bank accounts because 1.20 pence shall be equivalent to 1 cent. One South African Pound is equal to two South African Rands (£1=R2.00). South Africa's format of decimalisation from Pounds to the new decimalised currency was followed by Australia, New Zealand and Nigeria. Britain did the worst decimalisation format. Britain converted 20 shillings (240 pence) to 100 pence. Inflation was the result. The government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson was too afraid to lose the Pound as Britain's currency that's why he followed the advice of the Bank of England to retain the Pound. BOE and Harold Wilson did not follow the format of Ghana's new decimalised currency based on 8/4 (100 pence) nor South Africa's version of decimalised currency based on 10/- (120 pence converted to 100 cents). Instead, Britain decimalised the Pound by shrinking its value from 240 pence to 100 pence only. Some people in Britain even thought that the value of their money/income has diminished because in every shilling they spend (5 new pence) they were ripped off by the government for 7 pence. Devaluing the shilling from 12 pence to 5 pence was not a joke especially during the time when prices were still cheap. The ill-conceived decimalisation of the Pound in 1971 was one of the "ingredients" of the economic disaster of Britain during the turbulent decade of the 1970s. It may not be the main reason but it contributed to the economic crisis during that time. Maybe it's true that 10 is simpler than 12 or the decimal currency system is simpler than imperial currency system but the transition of Britain to decimal currency system in 1971 was NOT simple.
You clearly haven't even bothered to watch the documentary.
Most people still use pounds and stones to measure their weight. No one ever suggests that it is “too complicated” to have a stone divided into fourteen pounds.
@@Mark3ABE I use imperial and metric in turn when weighing myself.
Wow. Very, very well broken down.
Top comment.
In July 1967, UK government decided to adopt the £1 = 100 pence system. This meant that each of the 20 shillings in a Pound shall be devalued from 12 pence to 5 pence. The market's reaction on this was swift. They sold their British Pounds in exchange for US dollars. In November 1967, the British Pound was devalued from £1=$2.80 to £1=$2.40.
Utter nonsense. The Decimal Currency Act 1967 became law on 14 July 1967, but the devaluation of Sterling wasn't until 18 November, four months later, and devaluation was a measure imposed by the UK government, not a reaction by the markets.
Actual decimalisation did not devalue the Pound, as it was a 1:1 equivalent, regardless of going from 240 pennies to 100 pence; shilling coins, worth one-twentieth of a pound, were the direct equivalent of 5 new pence, and thus still one-twentieth of a pound.