Unicode defines multiple strokes; of interest to this question is U+002f (solidus: ‘/’), U+2044 (fraction slash: ‘⁄’) and U+2215 (division slash: ‘∕’). I cannot—however—find these well defined. In Unicode 12.1.0 the strokes are defined as such:
Fraction Slash. U+2044
fraction slashis used between digits to form numeric fractions, such as 2/3 and 3/9. The standard form of a fraction built using the fraction slash is defined as follows: any sequence of one or more decimal digits (General Category = Nd), followed by the fraction slash, followed by any sequence of one or more decimal digits. Such a fraction should be displayed as a unit, such as ¾ or . The precise choice of display can depend on additional formatting information. If the displaying software is incapable of mapping the fraction to a unit, then it can also be displayed as a simple linear sequence as a fallback (for example, 3/4). If the fraction is to be separated from a previous number, then a space can be used, choosing the appropriate width (normal, thin, zero width, and so on). For example, 1 +
thin space+ 3 +
fraction slash+ 4 is displayed as 1¾.
Other notes on the stroke include the following:
Several punctuation marks, such as colon, middle dot and solidus closely resemble mathematical operators, […]
Two small form variants from CNS 11643/plane 1 were unified with other characters outside the ASCII block: 213116 was unified with U+00B7 middle dot, and 226116 was unified with U+2215 division slash.
This specific question relates to the historical usage of a stroke to denote shillings and pence, the so-called ‘old money’. Which stroke is the typographically correct stroke to be used for this? I am quite sure that I somewhere read that the regular stroke (U+2f) is wrong, that one should rather use the division slash (U+2215). In any case, the fraction slash (U+2044), as it is designed for fractions and thus triggers specific behaviours in word processors, web browsers and the like when
afrc is called for.
Two follow-up questions are in order: Should zero pence be written with an n-dash or hyphen? And which space should be used to separate pounds from shillings, if one uses a space rather than a stroke?
Alternatives, all with thinspaces and n-dashes:
- U+002f (‘solidus’):
- £1 5/–
- U+2215 (‘division slash’):
- £1 5∕–
It might well be that a hairspace would be desired for the final two examples.