No change there then!

Those of us who grew up in the UK before decimalisation of the currency in 1971, remember pounds, shillings and pence, as well as the coinage that went with it, as illustrated in the photo.  Before the change, the currency had been in existence for 500 years and boy was it difficult to deal with.  At least that's my opinion.  There were 240 pennies to a pound and there were further sub divisions as follows:

• Four farthings to a penny
• Two halfpennies (pronounced ha'pennies) to a penny
• Three pennies to a threepenny bit
• Six pennies to a sixpence
• Twelve pennies to a shilling
• Two shillings and sixpence to a half a crown

There were also crowns and guineas but I won't go into any more detail, I'm sure you get the gist of it.  Every shopping trip was a mathematical brain teaser.  For example, if two items cost five pounds three shillings and eightpence - written £5 3s 8d - what does one item cost?  The answer is two pounds eleven shillings and ten pence - £2 11s 10d.  Now in 'new' currency the two items would be five pounds and eighteen pence - written £5.18 - and each item would be two pounds and fifty nine pence - £2.59.  Much easier isn't it?!

A brain teaser doing the rounds during my youth was - "If a bottle and a top cost a penny ha'penny and the bottle costs a penny more than the top, how much does the bottle cost?"  I don't have any survey data to back this up but my guess is that at least 80% said the bottle cost a penny.  That's the wrong answer, it's actually a penny farthing.  The top then costs a farthing, which means the bottle is a penny more than the top.  The teaser doesn't have the same elegance in 'new' currency somehow, even if we inflate the total price to 1.5p, which in 'old' currency is a little more than threepence ha'penny.  That makes the bottle 1.25p and the top 0.25p.  I suppose the fact there isn't a 0.25p coin makes it too conceptual.  How would you buy a top?  On your credit card?!

Here in Turkey the currency is lira, which is divided into 100 kuruş, so that's nice and decimal!  My wife and I provide extra English lessons to a Turkish student who also likes mathematical brain teasers so I asked her the question - "If a bottle and a top cost one lira and fifty kuruş and the bottle costs a lira more than the top, how much does the top cost?"  She got the right answer, twenty five kuruş, which happens to be coin in Turkey.  So she's one of the 20%, a smart cookie!

I don't really get concerned about currencies.  To me it's just a very convenient means of doing transactions.  I'd rather go to the shop and pay money for a packet of cornflakes, than exchange a chicken for it!  I find the 'patriotic' attraction to the pound in the UK, instead of going for the Euro, rather pathetic frankly.  In fact I would welcome a world with just one currency, maybe the US dollar. However, I do have a sentimental recollection of pounds, shillings and pence, because like the Turkish student, I also have a mathematical bent and love brainteasers.  So in the world that I grew up in, which didn't have calculators, personal computers or credit cards, going shopping really was a brain teasing exercise.  Was it better than today?  I don't think so.  Whatever the coinage, there was never enough of it!........

No change there then!