Raghav M. asks: Can you explain the British pound sterling symbol and what its various components represent?
The British pound symbol ( £ ) is a stylized version of the Ancient Roman symbol for “Pound”, as in a measurement of weight. The English/Roman system ended in 1970 but for those nostalgic for this non-decimal system it went something like this:
Two slashes separated the major elements of currency: Pounds/shillings/pence abbreviated as £/s/d. The “d” representing the Ancient Roman term “denarius”. An item than cost 6 shillings 3 pence would look like this on the price tag : _/6s/3d. An item that cost 1£, 6 pence would be expressed as 1£/_/6d.