What is the algorithm to translate (convert) numbers into letters. For
example: 1,000 = one thousand
256 = two hundred fifty six
10,101 ten thousand one hundred one

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Sep 2002 16:12 PDT

Regarding an algorithm to convert numbers into alphabetic words, what
computer language do you prefer?

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Clarification of Question by fdelucio-ga on 11 Sep 2002 16:56 PDT

pseudo-code

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Sep 2002 17:30 PDT

I have found links for algorithms that convert numbers into their
verbal equivalents in Visual Basic, Excel, MS Access, COBOL, AS/400
RPG, Javascript, and C++.

Would any of those be of use to you?

Hi fdelucio,

There are various different styles of pseudocode. If you have a
specific style in mind, please post a sample of it (as a clarification
request) and I'll adapt this algorithm to your style.

This algorithm converts integers from 1 to 999,999 into words. Phrases
starting with "//" are comments. The "DIV" operator represents integer
division with the remainder discarded. The "+" operator represents
string concatenation.

The general approach is to break down the problem into a number of
simpler conversion tasks, then use recursive calls to this same
function to perform the subtasks, then concatenate (join) the
fragments into the final answer.

There are a lot of "special cases" to watch out for, to make sure that
(for example) 5000 doesn't get formatted as "five thousand zero".

integer2words(i)
// Returns a string representing the integer 'i' spelled as words.
// Local variables used: thousands, hundreds, tens, units, result
if i < 1 or i > 999999 then
   report_error_and_exit("out of range")
end if
thousands := i DIV 1000
units := i - (thousands * 1000)
if thousands > 0 then
   result := integer2words(thousands) + " thousand"
   if units > 0 then
      result := result + " " + integer2words(units)
   end if
else   // The range is from 1 to 999.
   hundreds := units DIV 100
   units := units - (hundreds * 100)
   if hundreds > 0 then
      result := integer2words(hundreds) + " hundred"
      if units > 0 then
         result := result + " " + integer2words(units)
      end if
   else   // The range is from 1 to 99.
      if units = 1 then result := "one"
      else if units = 2 then result := "two"
      else if units = 3 then result := "three"
      else if units = 4 then result := "four"
      else if units = 5 then result := "five"
      else if units = 6 then result := "six"
      else if units = 7 then result := "seven"
      else if units = 8 then result := "eight"
      else if units = 9 then result := "nine"
      else if units = 10 then result := "ten"
      else if units = 11 then result := "eleven"
      else if units = 12 then result := "twelve"
      else if units = 13 then result := "thirteen"
      else if units = 14 then result := "fourteen"
      else if units = 15 then result := "fifteen"
      else if units = 16 then result := "sixteen"
      else if units = 17 then result := "seventeen"
      else if units = 18 then result := "eighteen"
      else if units = 19 then result := "nineteen"
      else   // The range is from 20 to 99
         tens := units DIV 10
         units := units - (tens * 10)
         if tens = 2 then result := "twenty"
         elseif tens = 3 then result := "thirty"
         elseif tens = 4 then result := "forty"
         elseif tens = 5 then result := "fifty"
         elseif tens = 6 then result := "sixty"
         elseif tens = 7 then result := "seventy"
         elseif tens = 8 then result := "eighty"
         elseif tens = 9 then result := "ninety"
         end if
         if units > 0 then
            result := result + " " + integer2words(units)
         end if
      end if
   end if
end if
return(result)


Additional links:

"Numbers to words" in PL/SQL
http://anlab.hufs.ac.kr/~yjkim/BOOK/books/oracle/prog2/ch17_08.htm

"Numbers to words" in RPG
http://www.as400pro.com/nbrtowords.htm

"Numbers to words" in C
http://akbani.20m.com/codes/numword.txt

"Numbers to words" in Delphi
http://www.howtodothings.com/showarticle.asp?article=306

"Numbers to words" in Visual Basic
http://www.vbce.com/code/functions/convert_numbers_to_words/index.asp

"Numbers to words" in Java
http://mindprod.com/inwords.html

"Numbers to words" in C++
http://rossm.net/Electronics/Computers/Software/C++/Algorithms/index.htm#itow


Google search strategy:

"numbers to words" algorithm
://www.google.com/search?q=%22numbers%20to%20words%22%20algorithm
(unsuccessful)

"numbers to english" algorithm
://www.google.com/search?q=%22numbers+to+english%22+algorithm
(unsuccessful)

"numbers to words"
://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=%22numbers%20to%20words%22


Regards,
eiffel-ga