I wonder why…

… gas prices always include “9/10” cent as part of the price? What this means in real terms, of course, is that if someone says that gas is now at $3.99 per gallon, what they really mean is that gas is $4.00 per gallon.

This has actually been a question of mine since I was very young (6 or 7 years old), when I tried to apply my newly learned multiplication skills to figuring out how much a tankful (10 gallons, since 10 was easiest to multiply by ;-)) of gas would cost. It was only when my dad informed me of the extra “9/10” that I understood my error.

But even he was at a loss for why it was there.