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The following item appeared in the Sacramento Bee business section on
6-79-99:
_______________
³Costly misplaced comma
³A comma in the wrong place of a sales contract cost Lockheed Martin
Corp. $70 million, the Financial Times reported Friday.
²An international contract for the U.S.-based aerospace group¹s C-130J
Hercules had the comma misplaced by one place in the equation that
adjusted the sales price for changes to the inflation rate, the
London-based newspaper said. In Europe, commas are used instead of
periods to mark decimal points. The customer, who Lockheed refused to
name, held them to the price.³
