It's 2/10 of a cent.
My guess is that some dumb computer kept dunning him for that almost-zero amount and he just snapped.
It happens...My sister closed out a bank account years ago and kept getting monthly statements showing a balance of $0.00. She finally wrote a check to CASH in the amount of $0.00 and the statements stopped.
I guess that HAL (2001's computer) wasn't the only machine that was insane in the mainframe.
