minorUnit

Minor unit is a term used to describe the smaller subdivision of a base or major unit. In decimalized currency systems, the major unit (such as a dollar, euro, or pound) is typically divided into a fixed number of minor units, most commonly 100. This framework allows prices and amounts to be expressed with precision below one major unit. Examples include the cent as the minor unit of the euro and the U.S. dollar, and the pence as the minor unit of the pound sterling. Some currencies historically had other subdivisions (for instance, yen subunits such as rin and sen), but many of these are no longer in active use in daily transactions.

In computing and data modeling, minor units are often used to improve numerical accuracy. Monetary values may be stored as integers representing the smallest currency subunit (for example, storing 12345 as 123.45 currency units) to avoid floating-point errors during arithmetic operations. This practice is common in payment APIs, accounting software, and financial databases.

Terminology varies by domain. While minor unit is widely understood, other terms such as subunit, subcurreny unit, or cent/pence may be used depending on the currency and context. The concept remains the same: a minor unit is the smallest publicly used subdivision of a currency or measurement system, enabling finer representation of quantities than the major unit alone.

See also: major unit, currency subunit, cent, pence, decimalization, subunit.