How to Use Numbers in Business Writing - Allison Horak.com

How to Use Numbers in Business Writing

Excerpted from Write to the Point--Writing Tips from WordRake (2015)

YOU MUST:

General Rule

For numbers 1?10: Write it out using words

For numbers 11 and higher: Use the numeral

? use words for numbers at the beginning of a sentence, including a date: Nineteen sixty-eight was the height of student migration to the beaches of Ft. Lauderdale during Spring Break. Eleven hundred twenty-nine students that year were arrested and jailed during the riots.

? hyphenate numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine, but only those numbers: one hundred eighty-three.

? place a comma after the year only if the day appears after the month: We will wait till October 14, 2015, to begin.

? use the numeral with the word percent unless in a technical piece; then use %: But 7 percent voted no. Mix a 7% solution with . . .

? spell the number if you spell the currency--twenty-five dollars.

? write the numeral if you use the symbol--$475.

YOU MUST NOT:

? add the numeral in parentheses after you have written it in words: seven thousand nine hundred fifty-two (7,952). (In other words, only use the numeral!)

? use ordinal numbers in dates unless "of" appears between the number and the month: May 8, or the 8th of May; but not May 8th.

? place an apostrophe before the "s" in a plural year or century: The 1960s, or the 1800s.

? capitalize a century: the twentieth century, or the 20th century.

YOU MAY:

? replace the century with an apostrophe--the Class of '64.

Note that most of the time, we use the numeral: Use Numerals with:

? Number combinations: When you compare numbers, be consistent; if some should be words and others should be numerals, make them all numerals: In one year, Criss Angel walked through 108 concrete walls, 73 plate glass windows, and 2 iron gates.

? Very large rounded numbers (think million and above): about 8 billion. ? A year: 47 B.C. (or B.C.E.). ? Number clusters: The ages of the six children were 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15. ? Percentages and decimals: 5 percent, 0.62 miles. ? Units of measurement in technical writing: 3 pounds, 17 hectares. ? Abbreviated measurements in all writing: 5 mi, 55 mph. ? Whole numbers with fractions: 8?-by-11-inch paper. ? Page numbers: page 4. Use Words with: ? Units of measurement in nontechnical writing: The last time David Blaine stabbed

himself, he lost three pints of blood. ? Round numbers and approximations: about two thousand years ago. Use Both with: ? Numbers modifying numbers: 4 sevens, or three 10s. ? "Ordinal" numbers (numbers that express order): same rules as for "cardinal"

numbers (one, two, three): first, second, twenty-third (or 23rd), but 137th.

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