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copied!<p><strong>Why don't applications typically use [whole numbers] to internally represent currency values?</strong></p> <ol> <li><p>It does not make for simple coding. $1.10 translates to 110¢. Okay, but what about when you need to calculate tax (i.e $1.10 * 4.225% - Missouri's tax rate which results in $0.046475). To keep all money in whole numbers you'd have to also convert the sales tax to a whole number (4225), which would require converting 110¢ further to 11000000. The math then can be 11000000 * 4225 / 100000 = 464750. This is a problem as now we have values in fractions of cents (11000000 and 464750 respectively). All this for the sake of storing money as whole numbers.</p></li> <li><p>Therefore, it's easier to think and code in terms of the native currency. In the United States, this would be in dollars with the cents being a decimal fraction (i.e. $1.10). Coding such in terms of 110¢ isn't as natural. Using base-10 floating point numbers (such as Java's <code>BigDecimal</code>, and .NET's <code>Decimal</code>) are usually precise enough for currency values (compared to base-2 floating point numbers like <code>Float</code> and <code>Double</code>).</p></li> </ol> <p><strong>Why isn't this approach a best practice among applications that don't need to represent fractions of cents (or the equivalent in other currency types)?</strong></p> <p>I think number 1 above shows that it's hard to get away from needing to represent fractions of cents, at least when it comes to calculating sales tax - something common in business applications.</p>

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