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I was having a discussion with a colleague and we couldn't recall how they
both worked. Does 一人以上 mean a) 1 or more persons or b) more than one person?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-06T05:02:19.583
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2011-07-07T01:25:36.317
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question
word-choice usage
Do 以上 and 以下 include the number preceding them?
According to the [Wikipedia article on these
two](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%A5%E4%B8%8A%E3%83%BB%E4%BB%A5%E4%B8%8B),
以下 and 以上 _include_ the number that precedes them.

> ５０以上 => 50 or more
>
> ５０以下 => 50 or less

If you want to exclude the number on the upper end (instead of 以下) use
未満(みまん).

> １０００円未満 (less than 1,000 yen, not including 1,000)

I had a few different discussions (and taking Ito-san's point below as well)
about this - 超 seems to be used (?) but I've never really heard it. In this
case we would probably go back to standard grammar using a verb instead:

> １０００円を超える（こえる)

If there was really a need to exclude a certain number in the case of 以上, you
could always add 1 to it -- e.g.

> １００１円以上

Although that seems strange too. Maybe there's not much of a use for that kind
of term?
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2011-07-06T05:04:37.040
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2011-07-06T12:45:31.337
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answer
I think 以上 and 以下 are inclusive above and below. 超 and 未満 are exclusive.
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2011-07-06T05:06:04.770
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answer
As makdad and Axioplase stated in their answers, the “correct” usage is that
X以上 and X以下 (where X is a number) include X. However, the “incorrect” usage
with X excluded is not rare, and therefore it is better to be aware of this
possibility, too. For example, when talking about a [ski
lift](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_lift), some people may well say:

> このリフトには一人以上乗ることはできません。 This lift cannot carry one or more persons. (What?!)

when they really mean “This lift cannot carry more than one person.”
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2011-07-06T14:02:36.330
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