Do shops/garages take 50 notes

In message , Tim writes

There are 1,112,000,000 £20's in issue being 0.044% counterfeit and

But that isnt the real answer to your question. The info that I think you really meant to ask for is the amount of use of such notes, being their relative velocity of circulation and the number actually in *real* circulation. The BoE use the word 'circulation' and not 'issued' because they hold substantial numbers of issued notes to their order in secure locations. But of those described in *circulation* (by BoE definition) a smaller number are in 'real' circulation because holders tend to hang on to larger value notes. In addition the old rule of 'bad money drives out good', means that as long as the fear of counterfeit notes is abroad, then a higher proportion of notes in real circulation are likely to be counterfeit. I know an estimate of the velocity of circulation is available, bit I cant find it on the internet at the moment.

I once found that I had a forged 5 (yes, five) Euro note. It was just a small bar but all notes were automatgically scanned.

Axel

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" wrote

No, I'm sure I meant "much fewer"... "Many fewer" just doesn't sound quite right!

"John Boyle" wrote

That's interesting.

"John Boyle" wrote

I don't think I needed to know the velocity, as I'm just considering what the chances are of any particular 50 being counterfeit. If they were passed around more often, each note would still have the same chance of being counterfeit ( = number of counterfeits / total number "in circulation").

"John Boyle" wrote

If people can't tell the difference very easily between genuine and counterfeit notes, then we should be able to assume that the proportion of those in "real circulation" being counterfeit is much the same as the proportion of those "being held" being counterfeit, shouldn't we?

In message , Tim writes

Yes, if that were the case.

But the 'bad money drives out good' is often based on fear and perceptions rather than fact.

At 10:41:54 on 31/08/2006, Tim delighted uk.finance by announcing:

Nevertheless, it is quite right. 'many' and 'fewer' is used for plural nouns (e.g. many fewer £50 notes in circulation) whereas 'much' and 'less' applies to mass singular nouns (e.g. much less money in circulation) or when the plural noun is aggregated (e.g. much less than two squillion pounds in circulation).