{"id":572,"date":"2016-08-08T18:08:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T18:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/styleguide\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=572"},"modified":"2023-07-26T18:23:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T18:23:46","slug":"writing-with-numbers","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/chapter\/writing-with-numbers\/","title":{"raw":"Writing with Numbers","rendered":"Writing with Numbers"},"content":{"raw":"<div id=\"node-1825\" class=\"node\">\r\n<div class=\"content clear-block\">\r\n<h2>The General Principle<\/h2>\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-1015\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/453\/2016\/08\/11180128\/background-1143869_1280-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"a collage of several numbers\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" \/>The basic guidelines for expressing numbers are relatively simple, but the details can get very complicated, and, as with many usage issues, opinions on how to express numbers will vary. If your instructor prefers a certain format, you should use their preferred format!\r\n\r\nWhen you're writing in a humanities subject (such\u00a0subjects require relatively few numbers),\u00a0numbers one hundred and below should be written out with letters, not numerals:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>There were <strong>sixty-three<\/strong>\u00a0self-portraits in the first collection.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The archeologists found\u00a0<strong>264<\/strong> bracelets in <strong>one<\/strong>\u00a0tomb.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<em>One hundred<\/em> is the magic number because over one hundred, the number cannot be spelled in one or two words. That's why numbers such as <em>sixteen hundred<\/em> or <em>four million<\/em> are written out as words rather than as numerals; yes, four million is a bigger number than one hundred mathematically, but it takes fewer words to spell out than<em> one hundred twenty-five<\/em>, so we write \"four million,\" but \"125.\"\r\n\r\nNote that you generally do not include page numbers in either written or numerical form in your sentences (or line numbers, if, for example, you are discussing a poem or play); when such numbers appear in citational parentheses, they take their numerical form.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In <em>Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary History<\/em>, Matthew Jockers argues, \"Big data are fundamentally altering the way that much science and social science get done\" (7).<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Discussions of John Milton's readers frequently include his famous description of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>'s readership as \"fit audience ... though few\" (7.31). [Here, 7 indicates Book Seven of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>; 31 indicates line thirty-one of that book of that poem. It would be inelegant and unconventional to convey this source information in the main sentence, as in the following form: \"Discussions of John Milton's readers frequently include his famous description in line thirty-one of Book Seven of\u00a0<em>Paradise Lost<\/em>\u00a0of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>'s readership as \"fit audience ... though few.\" Students sometimes write like this in an attempt to avoid mistakes in bibliographical formatting, or simply to take up more space as they work toward a page limit, but this habit causes more problems than it solves. If you're still following these details, you might also note that Book Seven is represented in the citation as <em>7<\/em>, not as <em>VII<\/em> (i.e., in Arabic numerals, not in Roman numerals). This is an example of a change in documentation fashion; academics used to use Roman numerals in such cases, but the current fashion, dictated by the leading bibliographical style guide in the humanities, is to use Arabic. So now you know.]<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIn STEM fields\u00a0(science, technology, engineering, math), where numbers are a more common feature, the convention is to spell\u00a0out numbers ten and below. Larger numbers should be written as numerals:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>This study\u00a0is based on <strong>three<\/strong> different ideas<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In\u00a0this treatment, the steel was heated <strong>18<\/strong> different times.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Other Guidelines<\/h2>\r\nIf a sentence begins with a number, the number should be written out:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Fourteen<\/strong> of the participants could not tell the difference between samples A and B.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Eighteen hundred and eighty-eight<\/strong> was a difficult year for Vincent van Gogh.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>You may want to revise sentences like this so the number does not come first: \"The year <strong>1888<\/strong> was difficult for\u00a0Vincent van Gogh.\"<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nYou should treat similar numbers in grammatically connected groups alike:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Two<\/strong> dramatic changes followed: <strong>four<\/strong> samples exploded, and <strong>thirteen<\/strong> lab technicians resigned.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Sixteen<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>15<\/strong> points on the test, <strong>thirty<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>10<\/strong> points, and <strong>three<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>5<\/strong> points.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In this sentence, there are two different \"categories\" of numbers: those that modify the noun\u00a0<em>people<\/em> and those that modify the noun\u00a0<em>points<\/em>. You can see that\u00a0one category is spelled out (<em>people<\/em>) and the other is in numerals (<em>points<\/em>). This division helps the reader immediately spot which category the numbers belong to.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWhen you write a percentage the number should always\u00a0be written numerically (even if it's ten or under). If you're writing in a technical field, you should use the percentage symbol (%):\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>This\u00a0procedure\u00a0has a <strong>7%<\/strong> failure\u00a0rate.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIf you're writing in a nontechnical field, you should spell out the word <em>percent<\/em>:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The judges have to give prizes to at least <strong>25 percent<\/strong> of\u00a0competitors.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAll important measured quantities\u2014particularly those involving decimal points, dimensions, degrees, distances, weights, measures, and sums of money\u2014should be expressed in numeral form:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The metal should then be submerged for precisely <strong>1.3<\/strong> seconds.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>On average, the procedure costs\u00a0<strong>$25,000<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The depth of the water at the time of testing was <strong>16.16<\/strong> feet.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIn technical settings, degree measures of temperature are normally expressed with the \u00b0 symbol rather than by the written word, with a space after the number but not between the symbol and the temperature scale:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The sample was heated to <strong>80 \u00b0C<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nUnlike the abbreviations for Fahrenheit and Celsius, the abbreviation for Kelvin (which refers to an absolute scale of temperature) is not preceded by the degree symbol (e.g., <strong>12 K<\/strong> is correct).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div id=\"node-1825\" class=\"node\">\n<div class=\"content clear-block\">\n<h2>The General Principle<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1015\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/453\/2016\/08\/11180128\/background-1143869_1280-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"a collage of several numbers\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" \/>The basic guidelines for expressing numbers are relatively simple, but the details can get very complicated, and, as with many usage issues, opinions on how to express numbers will vary. If your instructor prefers a certain format, you should use their preferred format!<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re writing in a humanities subject (such\u00a0subjects require relatively few numbers),\u00a0numbers one hundred and below should be written out with letters, not numerals:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There were <strong>sixty-three<\/strong>\u00a0self-portraits in the first collection.<\/li>\n<li>The archeologists found\u00a0<strong>264<\/strong> bracelets in <strong>one<\/strong>\u00a0tomb.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>One hundred<\/em> is the magic number because over one hundred, the number cannot be spelled in one or two words. That&#8217;s why numbers such as <em>sixteen hundred<\/em> or <em>four million<\/em> are written out as words rather than as numerals; yes, four million is a bigger number than one hundred mathematically, but it takes fewer words to spell out than<em> one hundred twenty-five<\/em>, so we write &#8220;four million,&#8221; but &#8220;125.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Note that you generally do not include page numbers in either written or numerical form in your sentences (or line numbers, if, for example, you are discussing a poem or play); when such numbers appear in citational parentheses, they take their numerical form.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In <em>Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary History<\/em>, Matthew Jockers argues, &#8220;Big data are fundamentally altering the way that much science and social science get done&#8221; (7).<\/li>\n<li>Discussions of John Milton&#8217;s readers frequently include his famous description of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>&#8216;s readership as &#8220;fit audience &#8230; though few&#8221; (7.31). [Here, 7 indicates Book Seven of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>; 31 indicates line thirty-one of that book of that poem. It would be inelegant and unconventional to convey this source information in the main sentence, as in the following form: &#8220;Discussions of John Milton&#8217;s readers frequently include his famous description in line thirty-one of Book Seven of\u00a0<em>Paradise Lost<\/em>\u00a0of <em>Paradise Lost<\/em>&#8216;s readership as &#8220;fit audience &#8230; though few.&#8221; Students sometimes write like this in an attempt to avoid mistakes in bibliographical formatting, or simply to take up more space as they work toward a page limit, but this habit causes more problems than it solves. If you&#8217;re still following these details, you might also note that Book Seven is represented in the citation as <em>7<\/em>, not as <em>VII<\/em> (i.e., in Arabic numerals, not in Roman numerals). This is an example of a change in documentation fashion; academics used to use Roman numerals in such cases, but the current fashion, dictated by the leading bibliographical style guide in the humanities, is to use Arabic. So now you know.]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In STEM fields\u00a0(science, technology, engineering, math), where numbers are a more common feature, the convention is to spell\u00a0out numbers ten and below. Larger numbers should be written as numerals:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This study\u00a0is based on <strong>three<\/strong> different ideas<\/li>\n<li>In\u00a0this treatment, the steel was heated <strong>18<\/strong> different times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Other Guidelines<\/h2>\n<p>If a sentence begins with a number, the number should be written out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fourteen<\/strong> of the participants could not tell the difference between samples A and B.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eighteen hundred and eighty-eight<\/strong> was a difficult year for Vincent van Gogh.\n<ul>\n<li>You may want to revise sentences like this so the number does not come first: &#8220;The year <strong>1888<\/strong> was difficult for\u00a0Vincent van Gogh.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You should treat similar numbers in grammatically connected groups alike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Two<\/strong> dramatic changes followed: <strong>four<\/strong> samples exploded, and <strong>thirteen<\/strong> lab technicians resigned.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sixteen<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>15<\/strong> points on the test, <strong>thirty<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>10<\/strong> points, and <strong>three<\/strong> people got\u00a0<strong>5<\/strong> points.\n<ul>\n<li>In this sentence, there are two different &#8220;categories&#8221; of numbers: those that modify the noun\u00a0<em>people<\/em> and those that modify the noun\u00a0<em>points<\/em>. You can see that\u00a0one category is spelled out (<em>people<\/em>) and the other is in numerals (<em>points<\/em>). This division helps the reader immediately spot which category the numbers belong to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you write a percentage the number should always\u00a0be written numerically (even if it&#8217;s ten or under). If you&#8217;re writing in a technical field, you should use the percentage symbol (%):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This\u00a0procedure\u00a0has a <strong>7%<\/strong> failure\u00a0rate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you&#8217;re writing in a nontechnical field, you should spell out the word <em>percent<\/em>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The judges have to give prizes to at least <strong>25 percent<\/strong> of\u00a0competitors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All important measured quantities\u2014particularly those involving decimal points, dimensions, degrees, distances, weights, measures, and sums of money\u2014should be expressed in numeral form:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The metal should then be submerged for precisely <strong>1.3<\/strong> seconds.<\/li>\n<li>On average, the procedure costs\u00a0<strong>$25,000<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The depth of the water at the time of testing was <strong>16.16<\/strong> feet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In technical settings, degree measures of temperature are normally expressed with the \u00b0 symbol rather than by the written word, with a space after the number but not between the symbol and the temperature scale:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The sample was heated to <strong>80 \u00b0C<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unlike the abbreviations for Fahrenheit and Celsius, the abbreviation for Kelvin (which refers to an absolute scale of temperature) is not preceded by the degree symbol (e.g., <strong>12 K<\/strong> is correct).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-572\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revision and Adaptation. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Revision and Adaptation. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Gillian Paku. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: SUNY Geneseo. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Style For Students Online. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Joe Schall. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The Pennsylvania State University. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/\">https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Penn State&#039;s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences&#039; OER Initiative. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Background Numbers. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: thinunes. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/background-numbers-mathematics-1143869\/\">https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/background-numbers-mathematics-1143869\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/cc0\">CC0: No Rights Reserved<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Style For Students Online\",\"author\":\"Joe Schall\",\"organization\":\"The Pennsylvania State University\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/\",\"project\":\"Penn State\\'s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences\\' OER Initiative\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Background Numbers\",\"author\":\"thinunes\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/background-numbers-mathematics-1143869\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc0\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation\",\"author\":\"Gillian Paku\",\"organization\":\"SUNY Geneseo\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-572","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/572\/revisions\/1700"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/572\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-guidetowriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}