The odd ‘00′ as denominator was what I was taught, long ago now, and evidently also what Jeff S. learned. But if it ever was as standard as I supposed, it no longer is: a quick check on the first few results of Googling “how to write a check” all show 100 as the denominator unhesitatingly.

The first one I saw with a variant was http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-write-a-check (step 5), which offers “xx” as the denominator (I had only run across it as numerator), and in the fractional part of the numeric amount field (which for me would normally be a decimal part). The same source (in step 6) offers “NO” as one form for the cents numerator when it is zero, this time for the text amount field.

The user-answers sites do have a variety of responses, but just like here it’s a matter of “this is how I do it”. I liked the French-learners one, where they also find the right phrasing for “write a check”.

@Nathaniel — thanks for connecting the dots! I’ve heard the audio clip and thought it maddening and hilarious. The company certainly deserved the ridicule or even contempt the distribution of the clip garnered for them. I didn’t connect it with this fancy check though until you pointed it out.

But in a way the check goes beyond the real point. The accounting department and the customer-service department who go over our bills with us certainly need to understand the pertinent math. Also the promotions or advertising people who cook up special deals. But what is the pertinent math? For the customer-service call anyway, it’s mostly decimal notation and units. Do they actually need to be able to evaluate the convergent power series on the check?

The Amount of: Six and no/00~~~~~~~~~~~ Dollars

Buns are made by bakers, who usually do things in dozens. That’s been the way since the Roman Empire and not likely to change.

Hot dogs are made by butchers, who sell their product by weight. Chances are your hot dog packages conform to a specific pound/ounce value.

So that’s the big secret. Jaw-dropping, isn’t it?

* The way I always heard it, in case of disagreement they go by the worded one. But in any case it seems you’re right that there’s a rule for resolving it without sending it back.

* In that fancy math example, it looks to me that the exponential would amount to -1, the summation would have a limit of 1, cancellling each other; and the $0.002 would be two-tenths of a cent. That’s an amount the banks can’t actually do anything with, so for me the clever gesture pales a little — if it came out to, say, two cents, it would have made a more effective point.