Numbers are very important in our everyday life. Whether you are making a shopping list, checking the bank balance or filling out an application form, you invariably find numbers involved. Therefore, it is no wonder that often confusion arises on how to write numbers. What should be the format of writing numbers in text, when it should be spelled out and when written in figures.
How to write numbers in text. This is a very important question and so i’ve found the correct way to write numbers in text and when to spell numbers in text.
Numbers can be written either as words (e.g., one hundred) or numerals (e.g., 100). In this article we follow the guidelines of APA Style, one of the most common style guides used in academic writing.
In general, words should be used for numbers from zero through nine, and numerals should be used from 10 onwards. This is true for both cardinal numbers (e.g., two, 11) and ordinal numbers (e.g., second, 11th). However, there are some important exceptions to this rule.
Note that other style guides, such as Chicago Style, address numbers differently (for example, in Chicago, you use words for numbers up to 100). Regardless of what style guide you follow, the most important thing is to be consistent in how you treat numbers throughout your document.
Table of Contents
How to Write Numbers
Writing 1 to 999
- Learn to write numbers from 1 to 9. This is where it all starts. Learn these, and the rest gets much easier:
- 1 = one
- 2 = two
- 3 = three
- 4 = four
- 5 = five
- 6 = six
- 7 = seven
- 8 = eight
- 9 = nine
- Write numbers from 10 to 19. Do you see how many of them look just like the numbers above, plus “teen” at the end? “Sixteen” (16) just means “six and ten” (6 + 10).
- 10 = ten
- 11 = eleven
- 12 = twelve
- 13 = thirteen
- 14 = fourteen
- 15 = fifteen
- 16 = sixteen
- 17 = seventeen
- 18 = eighteen
- 19 = nineteen
- Count in tens from 20 to 90. Here’s how to write 20, 30, 40, and so on all the way to 100. You can recognize these numbers because they end in “ty” except 100).
- 20 = twenty
- 30 = thirty
- 40 = forty
- 50 = fifty
- 60 = sixty
- 70 = seventy
- 80 = eighty
- 90 = ninety
- Combine words to write more numbers. Now you can write any number from 1 to 100. Let’s see how it works for the number 42:
- 42 is written with two numbers: 4 2.
- 2 is in the ones place, so this just equals 2. Write this as two.
- 4 is in the tens place, so this is actually 40. Write this as forty.
- Write the two parts together: forty-two. Don’t forget the – sign between them.
- Count by hundreds. This part’s easy if you remember the basics. Just write the number as usual and add “hundred:”
- 100 = one hundred
- 200 = two hundred
- 300 = three hundred (and so on)
- Write any number from 100 to 999. Just write the hundreds place, then the rest of the number. You don’t need to write “and” or anything else between them. Here are some examples:
- 120 = one hundred twenty
- 405 = four hundred five
- 556 = five hundred fifty-six
- 999 = nine hundred ninety-nine
- Test yourself. Try writing a few numbers as words. Work on these, then highlight the space after the = sign to see if you’re right:
- 21 = twenty-one
- 37 = thirty-seven
- 49 = forty-nine
- 255 = two hundred fifty-five
- 876 = eight hundred seventy-sixAdvertisement
Writing Long Numbers
- Understand place values. We can tell what each digit in a number means based on where it is. Here’s what the first 9 place values are called:[1]
- 1 → the ones place.
- 10 → the tens place.
- 100 → the hundreds place.
- 1,000 → the thousands place.
- 10,000 → the ten thousands place.
- 100,000 → the hundred thousands place.
- 1000,000 → the millions place.
- 10,000,000 → the ten millions place.
- 100,000,000 → the hundred millions place.
- Add commas to long numbers. Start from the right side of the number, at the ones place. Count three digits to the left, then add a comma. Keep separating the number in groups of three.
- For example, turn 458735 into 458,735.
- Write 1510800 as 1,510,800.
- You can use a period instead if that’s how people in your country write numbers.
- Write the last two digits. Look at the two digits at the end of the number. This part is just like writing a normal two-digit number.
- 5,467,350 looks hard, but don’t worry. Start with just the 50 at the end. Write this as fifty.
- Write the hundreds place. The next digit is the hundreds place. This is an easy one. Just write the number in that place, then add the word “hundred.” Write this in front of your number.
- In 5,467,350, the 3 is the hundreds place. Write this as ‘three hundred.
- Now we have ‘three hundred fifty.
- Look at the next chunk of three. You just wrote the hundreds, tens, and ones place. The next three numbers are the thousands “chunk.” These are the hundred thousands, ten thousands, and one thousands. Write these the same way, then add the word “thousand.”[2]
- In 5,467,350, the 467 is the thousands chunk.
- Write the 4 as four hundred.
- Write the 67 as sixty-seven.
- Write the whole chunk as four hundred sixty-seven thousand.
- Now we have four hundred sixty-seven thousand, three hundred fifty.
- Do the same for the millions. The next chunk of three numbers are the millions. These are the hundred millions, ten millions, and one millions. This is just the same as before, but with millions at the end.
- In 5,467,350, we only have a 5 in the millions place.
- Write this as five million.
- Finish writing the number: five million, four hundred sixty-seven thousand, three hundred fifty.
Writing percentages
With percentages, the standard is to use numerals and “%” (not “percent”).
Example:
According to the report, 45% of the workforce is employed in the service sector. Only 6% currently work in agriculture.
The main exception is if you are using a percentage to begin a sentence. In this case, use words to express the entire percentage.
Example:
Thirteen percent of the patients reported that their symptoms improved after taking the experimental drug.
Reporting statistical results that include numbers
If your paper includes quantitative research, you probably have data to report. Statistics, mathematical functions, ratios, and percentages are all written using numerals. This is true regardless of whether they are included within a table or as part of the actual text. Keep the following guidelines in mind:
- Report most statistics to two decimal places (such as M = 5.44).
- Report statistics that could never exceed 1.0 to three decimal places (such as p < .001).
- If a value has the potential to exceed 1.0, use the leading zero. If a value can never exceed 1.0, do not use the leading zero.
- Italicize values that are not Greek letters (such as M, SD, p, and F).
- Include spaces before and after =, >, and <.
Examples:
The average IQ of the participants was relatively high (M = 137.33, SD = 4.54).
The results of the second test were statistically significant, t(12) = 4.11, p < .05.
There are further detailed guidelines about reporting statistics in APA.
Writing numbers that are accompanied by measurements
If a number comes immediately before a unit of measurement, use numerals.
Examples:
Each patient received 5 mg of the experimental drug.
The tallest participant was 2.03 m.
Also use numerals for precise ages, times, dates, scores, points on a scale, and amounts of money.
Examples:
The final score of Ghana 2, Brazil 1 did not represent a decisive victory.
Children under 8 years receive a $50 discount.
But: Most girls start reading when they are about five years old. (“about” makes the number imprecise)
Writing long numbers
Longer numbers follow specific rules:
- Use a period to indicate a decimal point.
- Starting with 1,000, use commas to separate every three digits.
- Starting with a million, use a combination of numerals and words.
Examples:The region has an average of 43.75 doctors for every 10,000 people.Some predict that the number of users will reach 2 billion by 2020.
Conclusion
Numbers are a great tool in the modern age. They make counting and mathematics extremely easy. But, when you’re writing numbers in text it can be hard to know if you’re doing it right.