Unless you are writing in a scientific field or your essay relies on statistics, you’ll generally want to use words (twenty-seven). Figures (27) are most appropriate in contexts where readers are used to seeing them, such as times and dates (11:05 p.m. on March 15).
| 30a | In general, write out a number that consists of one or two words, and use figures for longer numbers |
Short names of numbers are easily read (ten, six hundred); longer ones take more thought (two thousand four hundred eighty-seven). For numbers of more than a word or two, use figures.
Two hundred fans paid twenty-five dollars apiece for that shirt.
A frog’s tongue has 970,580 taste buds; a human’s has six times as many.
EXCEPTION: For multiples of a million or more, use a figure plus a word.
The earth is 93 million miles from the sun.
| 30b | Use figures for most addresses, dates, decimals, fractions, parts of literary works, percentages, exact prices, scores, statistics, and times |
For examples, see Figures at a Glance on p. 882.
Using figures is mainly a matter of convenience. If you think words will be easier for your readers to follow, you can always write out a number.
| ADDRESSES | 4 East 74th Street; also, One Copley Place, 5 Fifth Avenue |
| DATES | May 20, 2007; 450 BC; also, Fourth of July |
| DECIMALS | 98.6° Fahrenheit; .57 acre |
| FRACTIONS | 31⁄2 years; 13⁄4 miles; half a loaf, three-fourths of voters |
| PARTS OF LITERARY WORKS | volume 2, chapter 5, page 37, act 1, scene 2 (or act I, scene ii) |
| PERCENTAGES | 25 percent; 99.9 percent; also, 25%, 99.9% |
| EXACT PRICES | $1.99; $200,000; also, $5 million, ten cents, a dollar |
| SCORES | a 114–111 victory; a final score of 5 to 3 |
| STATISTICS | men in the 25–30 age group; odds of 5 to 1 (or 5–1 odds); height 5’7”; also, three out of four doctors |
| TIMES | 2:29 p.m.; 10:15 tomorrow morning; also, half past four, three o’clock (always with a number in words) |
| 30c | Use words or figures consistently for numbers in the same category throughout a passage |
For more on the plurals of figures (6s, 1960s), see 24i.
Switching back and forth between words and figures for numbers can be distracting to readers. Choose whichever form suits like numbers in your passage, and use that form consistently for all numbers in the same category.
Of the 276 representatives who voted, 97 supported a 25 percent raise, while 179 supported a 30 percent raise over five years.
| 30d | Write out a number that begins a sentence |
When a number starts a sentence, either write it out, move it deeper into the sentence, or reword the opening.
Five percent of the frogs in our aquarium ate sixty-two percent of the flies.
Ten thousand people packed an arena built for 8,550.