{"id":110,"date":"2019-06-04T15:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T19:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/?page_id=110"},"modified":"2023-08-11T18:36:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T22:36:46","slug":"numbers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/guidelines\/editorial-style\/numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In nontechnical contexts, the general rule is to spell out one through nine; always spell out one and zero; use numerals for numbers 10 and above.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Whole numbers followed by hundred, thousand, billion, and so forth are usually spelled out:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>one billion<\/li>\n<li>six million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Spell out general approximations:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>There were enough seats for a thousand guests.<\/li>\n<li>A million voters can\u2019t be wrong.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Avoid starting a sentence with a number or year, whenever possible. If there is no possible way to recast the sentence, then spell out the number or year that begins a sentence.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>When numbers above and below nine occur in the same sentence for similar items, for consistency\u2019s sake they should all be written as numerals:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>At the meeting were 6 CAS alumni, 100 ENG alumni, and 240 COM alumni.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>However, items in one category may be given as numbers and those in another spelled out:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>A mixture of buildings\u2014two of 18 stories, five of more than 50, and a dozen of only 3 or 4\u2014are proposed for the area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Use numerals for <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">all<\/em> percents, weights and measures, and sports scores.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Use numerals to denote centuries:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>before the 16th century<\/li>\n<li>20th-century literature<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Use a comma in a number containing four or more digits, except in test scores:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>The freshman class has 4,174 students.<\/li>\n<li>Her combined SAT score is 1905.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>For phone numbers, use a hyphen following the area code:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>617-353-9253<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>For 800 numbers, don\u2019t add the 1:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>800-632-2244, <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">not<\/em> 1-800-632-2244<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In times of day, or dollar amounts, eliminate unnecessary zeros:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>7\u20139 pm, <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">not<\/em> 7:00\u20139:00 pm<\/li>\n<li>$45, <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">not<\/em> $45.00<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In ranges of time, dates, dollar amounts, or percentages, use an en dash to denote a range, and it is necessary to use the symbol or abbreviation for only one element of the range:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>noon to 3 pm<\/li>\n<li>$25\u201350<\/li>\n<li>75\u201380%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The letters in ordinal numbers do not appear as superscripts:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>122nd, <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">not<\/em> 122<sup>nd<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In writing dates, do not use \u201crd,\u201d \u201cth,\u201d etc.:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"editorial-sample\">\n<li>February 22, <em data-redactor-tag=\"em\">not<\/em> February 22nd<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Decades may be written as the \u201920s; the twenties; or the 1920s. An apostrophe is incorrect to indicate the plural, so 1920\u2019s is incorrect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In nontechnical contexts, the general rule is to spell out one through nine; always spell out one and zero; use numerals for numbers 10 and above. Whole numbers followed by hundred, thousand, billion, and so forth are usually spelled out: one billion six million Spell out general approximations: There were enough seats for a thousand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14430,"featured_media":0,"parent":97,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2291,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/110\/revisions\/2291"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/brand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}