Where Apple TTS Draws The Line (Numerically)

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:26:00 +0000

Apple’s OS X text-to-speech supports reading some big numbers. But they have to draw the line somewhere, and that line is just before one hundred sextillion. You can hear for yourself using the handy OS X “say” command.

Bare digit strings

Numbering on bare digit strings stops at one million.

$ say 1000000

You hear: “one million”

$ say 1000001

You hear: “one zero zero zero zero zero one”

Formatted number strings

Nicely formatted number strings get a bit more scale:

Math on galvanist

Where Apple TTS Draws The Line (Numerically)

Bare digit strings

Formatted number strings