This is part three on writing out numbers or using figures instead (and on not writing both all the times).
The previous blogs on the subject, with the preceding best practice principles, can be found under the topic General principles (click here for part 1 and click here for part 2).
8) Avoid combining single-digit figures and words by using hyphens, but write out instead.
Example:
a three-year term; a five-door car
But note custom phrases such as:
40-hour week, 24-hour services, 4-wheel drive
9) Do not add two decimal zeros in a context of round (cardinal) amounts. For figures smaller than 1 precede the point by zero.
An exception may apply when consistency so requires, for example in tables or when other amounts are not round amounts (and all are part of one calculation). Do not cut off decimals if all cut-off decimals are zeros: the zeros increase precision. Examples:
- EUR 2,750.75 plus EUR 6,000.00 plus EUR 1,249.25 equals EUR 10,000.
- …such excess EBITDA shall be multiplied by 8.3…
- …the default interest shall be further increased by 0.85…
Do not write out decimals.
10) When two numbers are adjacent, spell out one of them.
Usually, it would be the first. Examples:
- 140 fifty-kilogram packages
- Seventy 44-eurocent stamps
11) Compound numbers that are written out, take a hyphen.
Numbers below one hundred are compounded. Example:
- thirty-first
- nineteen hundred sixty-six
12) Use figures in a combination with units of measurement that are denoted by a symbol or an abbreviation.
Examples:
- 250 kW or two hundred and fifty kilowatts
- 205 μg or two hundred and five micrograms
- 5 °C or five degrees Celsius
The opposite does not hold. If the units of measurement are spelled out, the numbers may be written with figures:
250 kilowatts, 500 metres.
