<P> £ sd (pronounced / ɛlɛsˈdiː / ell - ess - dee and occasionally written Lsd) is the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies once common throughout Europe, especially in the British Isles and hence in several countries of the British Empire and subsequently the Commonwealth . The abbreviation originates from the Latin currency denominations librae, solidi, and denarii . In the United Kingdom, which was one of the last to abandon the system, these were referred to as pounds, shillings, and pence (pence being the plural of penny). </P> <P> This system originated in the classical Roman Empire . It was re-introduced into Western Europe by Charlemagne, and was the standard for many centuries across the continent . In Britain, it was King Offa of Mercia who adopted the Frankish silver standard of librae, solidi and denarii in the late 8th century, and the system was used in much of the British Commonwealth until the 1960s and 1970s, with Nigeria being the last to abandon it with the introduction of the naira on 1 January 1973 . </P> <P> Under this system, there were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings, or 240 pence, in a pound . The penny was subdivided into 4 farthings until 31 December 1960, when they ceased to be legal tender in the UK, and until 31 July 1969 there were also halfpennies ("ha'pennies") in circulation . The advantage of such a system was its use in mental arithmetic, as it afforded many factors and hence fractions of a pound such as tenths, eighths, sixths and even sevenths and ninths if the guinea (worth 21 shillings) was used . When dealing with items in dozens, multiplication and division are straightforward; for example, if a dozen eggs cost four shillings, then each egg was priced at fourpence . </P> <P> As countries of the British Empire became independent, some abandoned the £ sd system quickly, while others retained it almost as long as the UK itself . Australia, for example, only changed to using a decimal currency on 14 February 1966 . Still others, notably Ireland, decimalised only when the UK did . The UK abandoned the old penny on Decimal Day, 15 February 1971, when one pound sterling became divided into 100 new pence . This was a change from the system used in the earlier wave of decimalisations in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, in which the pound was replaced with a new major currency called either the "dollar" or the "rand". The British shilling was replaced by a 5 new pence coin worth one - twentieth of a pound . </P>

How many british shillings are in a pound