number slot can't convert "million", results in question mark

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newuser-1efbe33f-6910-4205-af1a-39a0f4f31fba asked Sep 4, '16

number slot can't convert "million", results in question mark

With the sample utterance:

SetNumber {amount}

and amount defined as

      "intent": "SetNumber",
      "slots": [
        {
          "name": "amount",
          "type": "AMAZON.NUMBER"
        }
      ]

I see the following slot values for the given input:

"three thousand" -> 3000 (correct)
"three million" -> ?
"three hundred thousand" -> 300000 (correct)
"three hundred fifty thousand" -> ?

Outside of the skill all of these numbers work ("alexa, what is three million times ten", etc), how am I supposed to define the slot or sample utterances so this works?

alexa skills kit skill intents

1

10 |5000

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newuser-1efbe33f-6910-4205-af1a-39a0f4f31fba commented · Sep 13, 2016 at 03:51 AM

I also note that even the mathematics engine (native alexa) doesn't handle "two point five million" (it registers it as 2.51)

0 ·

Answer 1 · 2016-09-07T23:42:41Z

KirkC@Amazon answered Sep 7, '16

Hello. I just wanted to let you know that I've escalated this issue internally to be researched. I'll follow up when I've heard back.

Update: Although we do not have an immediate fix, we were able to reproduce the behavior you described. Additionally, we have a partial explanation of the discrepancy. The short version is that AMAZON.NUMBER and the functionality of asking Alexa to sum two numbers are being handled by different systems. Our internal development teams are aware and this is being looked into more deeply.

Update 2: The development team has pushed out an update an it now appears that large numbers like "three million" and "three hundred fifty thousand" will be handled properly without the skill being passed a "?" as the slot value.

4

10 |5000

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newuser-3809e727-9e07-4557-96ee-eb5d6363251e commented · Mar 30, 2018 at 06:19 PM

This is super old but any update? :)

4 ·

newuser-1efbe33f-6910-4205-af1a-39a0f4f31fba commented · Sep 13, 2016 at 03:51 AM

Thanks for the update @KirkC@Amazon

Any idea when we might expect movement on this? Or recommended workarounds?

0 ·

KirkC@Amazon ♦♦ newuser-1efbe33f-6910-4205-af1a-39a0f4f31fba commented · Sep 13, 2016 at 07:52 PM

I don't have any additional information to share at the moment. If and when we hear back from our development teams I'll update this thread.

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newuser-6a0448c8-99a7-4cd7-8d2e-b71336c375df newuser-1efbe33f-6910-4205-af1a-39a0f4f31fba commented · Nov 24, 2016 at 12:39 AM

I've run into this issue too. Big numbers in general don't seem to be understood by AMAZON.NUMBER. A workaround seems to be for the user to say the number digit by digit (e.g. instead of saying "six hundred forty thousand", say "six four zero zero zero zero".

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