Where does the dollar sign go?

Answer 1

In most English-speaking regions the "$" sign is always written before the numeric amount; for example, $300. Some parts of French-speaking Canada write the sign after the number; e.g. 300$, following the old French practice of placing "FF" (franc français) after the number.

If the amount is in whole dollars, a decimal point to the right of the amount is optional - $300 or $300. are both OK, although most people leave off the decimal point.

If the amount has both dollars and cents associated with it the decimal point is required, and cents are to the right of the whole amount and decimal point: $4.97 for "four dollars and 97 cents"

If the amount is less than a whole dollar there are two ways to write it and you have to be VERY careful not to get them mixed up:

(A) Write the $ sign, a zero and decimal point, then the cents - - OR - -

(B) Write the cents as a whole amount and FOLLOW it with the cents sign.

So the amount "35 cents" could be written as either $0.35 or 35¢

A lot of people who aren't careful get the two ways mixed up and they might right something like "0.50¢" when they really mean "fifty cents". But that's a big mistake because 0.50¢ really means half of one cent!! That error has cost some stores a lot of money because items were priced in fractions of pennies instead of in dollars.