### The comma as a decimal separator

If you use a comma in maths mode, you get a small space after it; this space is inappropriate if the comma is being used as a decimal separator. An easy solution to this problem, in maths mode, is to type `3``{,}``14` instead of typing `3,14`. However, if your language's typographic rules require the comma as a decimal separator, such usage can rapidly become extremely tiresome. There are two packages that can help relieve the tedium: icomma and ziffer.

Icomma ensures that there will be no extra space after a comma, unless you type a space after it (as in `f(x, y)`, for instance), in which case the usual small space after the comma appears. Ziffer is specifically targeted at the needs of those typesetting German, but covers the present need, as well as providing the double-minus sign used in German (and other languages) for the empty 'cents' part of an amount of currency.

`icomma.sty`
  Distributed as part of macros/latex/contrib/was (gzipped tar, browse)
`ziffer.sty`
  macros/latex/contrib/misc/ziffer.sty

This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=dec_comma