Using Numbers Correctly - Part I

The topic on "Using Numbers Correctly" will be discussed in five parts: Amounts in Money; Dates; Addresses; Percentages; and Other Uses. Each of these topics will be discussed in separate posts.

There are many writers who are bothered on the question of how to use, or write figures, or numbers properly. Although there are disagreements among the authorities, the following rules may be helpful in using numbers acceptably.

Part I - Amounts of Money

Rule 1. Figures should be used to indicate sums of money.

I bought a book for P195.95.

Modern business does not sanction the use of decimal point, or the decimal point and ciphers, in writing even amounts of money.

The ticket costs P50. ( Not: The ticket costs P50.00 ).

Should you find the need to express in one sentence several amounts, some of which may be even and others involving centavos, use the decimal point and ciphers with the even amounts.

I paid the following telephone bills since December: January 10, P800.75; February 15, P995.00; March 25, P902.35; and April 30, P900.00.

Rule 2. In expressing centavos, it is preferable to write out from one to nine and to use figures from 10 ( ten ) to 99 ( ninety-nine ) without the decimal. Always write out the word centavos.

Buy two five-centavos paper clips.

I gave him 50 centavos to buy a piece of colored paper.

Rule 3. In legal or commercial writing, a number that is written out may be emphasized by figures placed in parentheses.

The estimated shipping cost for a single package is  Nine Hundred Twenty-Five Pesos and  Fifty Centavos ( P925.50 ).

Do not write the word and following the word hundred when spelling out large sums of money.

Nine Hundred Ninety- Five Pesos.
( Not: Nine Hundred and Ninety- Five Pesos ).

Rule 4. Spell out large round numbers such as millions and billions, thereby avoiding rows of zeros.

Toshiba has already sold two million television sets.

Sixty million fans watched the boxing match.

Use figures in expressing exact numbers, But never begin a sentence with figures.

The speedometer registered exactly 527,689 kilometers when the car was sold.

One factory produced 1,452,901 pencils in a month.

Rule 5.  When a sum of money is used as a part of a compound adjective, it is preferable to spell out the number, followed by a hyphen and an adjective, if the number can be written as one word; otherwise, use figures.

a ten-centavo paper clip

a 25-centavo candy ( Not: a twenty-five-centavo candy )

a five peso bill

a 75-centavo colored paper
(Not: a seventy-five-centavo colored paper )

Rule 6. Avoid using figures at the beginning of a sentence.

Fifty-five centavos is the price of that candy.
( Not: 55 centavos is the price . . . . )

The sample below may be recast and read:

The price of that candy is 55 centavos.

In spelling out round numbers over a thousand, use the form:

Eleven hundred ( Not: One thousand one hundred )

For exact numbers over one thousand use preferably the form:

Three thousand four hundred twenty one

Acceptable: Thirty-four hundred twenty one