3

I have a column in a database table called CONDITION_PERCENT.

It has values like:

  • 1
  • 0.1
  • 0.01

Which are meant to represent:

  • 100%
  • 10%
  • 1%

I suspect that referring to these values as percentages might be incorrect. Calling them percentages certainly seems to be misleading my users (everyone expects the values to be fractions of 100, not fractions of 1).

What is the proper name for percentage values that are a fraction of 1?

User1974
  • 276
  • 1
  • 17
  • 63
  • 1
    I'm not entirely sure this belongs on this website. You'll likely get better answers on the English Langauge forum: https://english.stackexchange.com/ In Any case, I'd personally call them decimals. Seeming as well... they're decimal digits. – SimonC Feb 02 '18 at 15:22
  • @SimonC : I deleted this question, and tried asking it on [English Stack Exchange](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/429261/percentage-stored-as-a-fraction-of-1-what-is-this-called?noredirect=1#comment1029981_429261) instead. But it was immediately put on hold. *"... Off-topic because our Help Center specifically rules the naming of things, including program things like this, to be out of scope for our site."* – User1974 Feb 02 '18 at 19:51
  • Similar question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4840095/naming-convention-for-0-0-1-0-value-range – Jonathan B. Dec 15 '22 at 19:03

1 Answers1

2

From the examples you have given, the term you are looking for is "Decimal Fraction" i.e.

"a fraction whose denominator is some power of 10, usually indicated by a dot (decimal point or point) written before the numerator: as 0.4 = 4/10; 0.126 = 126/1000."

Ben Smith
  • 19,589
  • 6
  • 65
  • 93