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That's surprising. People don't say stuff like "try setting power level to point three"? Do they use a different word for the decimal separator?

Nope, we always say "zero point three" (in our native language, of course).

While I tend to use the verbal shortcut, your way is much less likely to be misinterpreted.

"Set the power to point three" sounds the same orally as "Set the power two point three"

The zero makes it unambiguous.

It also helps that in my language, zero, point, and all the numbers are all one-syllable, hehe

"to" is often reduced to something like "tuh", whereas "two" never is.

Except in deliberate word-by-word pronunciation, "one two three" and "one to three" sound different in native US English.