When it comes to using numbers in
academic writing, it can be tricky to
know when to write them out and when to
use what's called numeric form. So in
numeric form, the number is still just a
number, so we have 6, or let's say 4223...
whereas written out (so if we write out
the number) we would write
six, and we would write (well I'm not
going to write it because it would take
quite a while), but we would write out
this number here as well. So which one is
appropriate in what circumstance? Well,
there are four main criteria that we can
use to decide on which of these options
we should go with, and let's review each
of these in some detail. The first thing
that can help us to decide is the length
of the number.
The rule of thumb is that if
a number is only one or two words long,
then we can typically write it out. So,
for instance, we can write out "two hundred"
because it's only two words long as you
can see. On the other hand, this big
number that we had here before, there's
no need to write that out because it
just would take way too long. So that's
the general rule of thumb: if
it's not hard to write it out, then
go for it. Now a couple of minor details
here: numbers between 21 and 99 are
often hyphenated, so we would write "twenty-seven,"
let's say. And this counts as just one
word. So when you try to figure out
how long are these words, or how many
words are there, then this is just one
word. The other thing to notice is that
if you have a number that is over a
million, so let's say you have 5 million,
you're allowed to use a combination of
numbers and words to express that. So
instead of having to write "5,000,000"
(you can see that takes quite a while),
even though it's just a couple of words,
if you were to write it out, what you can
do here is you can use a number
and a word together to express it. Our
second rule has to do with whether the
number is a measurement or a stat or if
it's more general in nature. So if
the number is quite specific, a
measurement or a statistic or something
like that, then we tend to leave it in
numeric form. And here are some examples.
So let's say that you have a date--let's
say you're talking about July 7. You
can see that under our first rule, seven
is pretty short, and we should write it
out, so it would be seven, but we
typically don't do that. So cross
that out and just keep it in numeric
form. Same thing with literary references,
so whether you're talking about a
chapter or, let's say, some line numbers
(so line 12). Again, quite easy to write
this out under our first rule, but we can
break it with our second rule, and we're
going to leave it in numeric form.
Here are a few other examples of
specific measurements and stats that can
be in numeric form. So scores, let's say
the score is 5-4. Statistics--so
let's just talk about
28% of people said this
or that. Money--let's say something
costs $5. Addresses--let's say
you live on 23 Foggy Bottom Rd--
you can just leave it in numeric
form. Any sort of mathematical equations
or numbers--so let's say you're talking
about a fraction, 7/8, or
something with a decimal in it. In each
of these cases, what you can see here is
that we have something quite specific,
and it's totally fine just to leave it
in numeric form. So our first two rules,
then, kind of rub up against each other.
The first one says, "if it's short, write
it out." The second one set says, "yeah, but
if its specific, if it's a
specific kind of measurement or stat, you
can leave it in numeric form." So two
more rules to review then for when to
write out numbers,
and the first of these has to do with
frequency, so how many numbers are you using
in one sentence. You can see here that
we've used quite a few numbers, and we've
left them in numeric form because there
are so many of them. Even though these
are fairly easy to write out (it
doesn't take much to write out "five") and
even though these are not specific
measurements or stats, which is our
second rule, we've still left them in
numeric form. And that's fine because of
the frequency of numbers here. But this
is obviously a judgment call.
If you think that it's easy enough to
write them out, then that's totally fine.
And I think this is really a toss-up
here, but at least it gives you the
option. So if if there is a certain
frequency of numbers, you are allowed to
leave them in numeric form. And then the
last point has to do with clarity.
How do you achieve clarity? Let's say
you're talking about "6 five-goal games." And
this is a situation that often crops up
in sports columns ... so if you like that
sort of thing, you'll see this quite
often. In this case we have two numbers
here--we have "6" and "five." And we could
write out both of them--we could write
"six" if we wanted to. But as you'll see,
these are two different measurements,
and it can get confusing if
they're both written out or both in
numeric form. So when you have that, when
you have two measurements right in a row,
two numbers, you're allowed to kind of
mix it up a little bit just to create
that kind of clarity. So those are our
four criteria for trying to figure out
when to write out numbers. As you can see,
it's not an exact science. These are
mostly suggestions, and rules of
thumb, but hopefully this gives you some
advice as to when it's best to write out
the number or leave it in numeric form.