[OASIS Issue Tracker] Commented: (OFFICE-3695)number:max-denominator-digits attribute to number:fraction

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    [ http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-3695?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=25941#action_25941 ] 

Robert Weir  commented on OFFICE-3695:
--------------------------------------

I like this. 

I compared Excel, where I see the following options:

-up to one digit
-up to two digits
-up to three digits
-as haves
-as quarters
-as eights
-as sixteenths
-as tenths
-as hundredths

If I understand correctly, the first three are enabled by your proposal, while the other options already exist in ODF 1.2.

One thing I don't quite like about the behavior in Excel is that they don't reduce the fractions.  So, with "as sixteenths" it would format 0.5 as 8/16.  In some contexts this would be fine, but in others it would look odd.  For example, before decimalization, the NYSE quoted stock prices to 1/16th USD.  But they would never quote 5 8/16.  It would always be 5 1/2.  I wonder whether we want an additional attribute to state whether fractions should be reduced where possible?  Default behavior would be backwards compatible.


> number:max-denominator-digits attribute to number:fraction
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: OFFICE-3695
>                 URL: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-3695
>             Project: OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC
>          Issue Type: New Feature
>          Components: Formatting Properties
>    Affects Versions: ODF 1.2 CD 07
>            Reporter: Andreas Guelzow 
>            Assignee: Andreas Guelzow 
>             Fix For: ODF 1.3 CSD 01
>
>
> In ODF 1.2 the <number:fraction> element has the attribute number:denominator-
> value. If this attribute is not present, a denominator that is appropriate for
> displaying the number is used. Clearly what is considered appropriate will be implementation dependent/defined. For example LibreOffice considers the appropriate denominator for of:=PI() to be 7 although a denominator of 113 would create a much closer approximation. From a user perspective if formatting a number as a fraction usually the size of the denominator is important even if the exact chosen denominator does not matter. Some implementations, for example Gnumeric, permit the user to determine a maximum number of digits to be used in the choice of the denominator. Currently Gnumeric stores that information in a foreign element: gnm:max-denominator-digits. In the interest of interoperability it would be desirable to include a similar attribute in the ODF1.3 standard.

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