The decimal separator is a symbol used to mark the border between the integral and the fractional parts of a decimal numeral. This symbol can be a period ("."), as is common in United States and other English-speaking countries, or a comma (","), as in continental Europe. Decimal point and decimal comma are also common names for the decimal separator. For example, 9.5 means nine and one half in English speaking countries, while in many European countries, the same number might be written as 9,5.