Writing out numbers

4.4

Plurals of figures. Plurals of figures do not take an apostrophe:

Pilots of 747s undergo special training.

4.5

Do not combine single-digit figures and words using hyphens (a 2-hour journey) but write out:

a three-year period; a five-door car

4.6

Compound attributes containing numbers must be hyphenated too:

a seven-year-old wine; two four-hectare plots

4.7

When two numbers are adjacent, it is often preferable to spell out one of them:

90 fifty-gram weights, seventy 25-cent stamps

4.8

Compound numbers that are to be written out (e.g. in treaty texts) take a hyphen, whether cardinal or ordinal:

the thirty-first day of December,

nineteen hundred and eighty-one

4.9

Grouping of thousands. Do not use either commas or points but insert protected spaces (4 000 000). Note that serial numbers are not grouped in thousands (p. 1452).

In tables: write DEM '000 or DEM thousand, not in DEM 1 000.

'000 tonnes or thousand tonnes or thousands of tonnes, not in 1 000 tonnes

4.10

Obligatory use of figures. Use figures, not words, for temperatures, times, distances (about 5 kilometres), percentages, people's ages and votes (2 delegations were in favour, 7 against, and 1 abstained). Serial numbers should also be in figures (Chapter 5, Article 9, Item 4) unless you are quoting a source that does otherwise (Part One of the EEC Treaty).

4.11

Billion. The use of billion to designate thousand million (rather than million million) is now officially recognised by the Commission and is standard usage in official Community publications. Leading British newspapers and journals (such as the Financial Times and The Economist) have also adopted the convention.

4.12

Astronomical contexts. When using billion in an astronomical context, it may be advisable to specify which meaning of the word (10⁹ or 10¹²) is being used.

4.13

Abbreviating “million” and “billion”. Do not use mio. The letters m and bn can be used for sums of money (including ecus) to avoid frequent repetitions of million, billion; this applies particularly in tables where space is limited. It should be closed up to the figure (example: EUR 230m, £370m, $230bn).

4.14

Written out. Insert hyphens in fractions used as adverbs or adjectives but not if they are nouns:

two-thirds completed, a two-thirds increase,

an increase of two thirds.

4.15

Avoid combining figures and words (2/3 finished).

4.16

Decimal points. Do not replace commas with points in legislation (including the budget). This was agreed in the 1970s by the UK and Irish Permanent Representatives. The same goes for all other work that is to appear in the OJ. Elsewhere, replace decimal commas with points. See also Chapter 9 on tables.

4.17

Note in quoting statistics that 3.5 (as in 3.5%) is not the same as 3.50 or 3½; each decimal place, even if zero, adds to the precision. The non-decimal fraction is more approximate.

4.18

Written out. Repeat symbols and multiples (i.e. thousand, million, etc.):

from FRF 20 million to FRF 30 million

between 10ºC and 70°C

4.19

Abbreviated form. If the symbol or multiple remains the same, insert a closed-up dash between the figures:

FRF 20–30 million,10–70ºC

Leave a blank space on either side of the dash if the symbol or multiple changes:

100 kW – 40 MW

4.20

Approximation. Use a closed-up dash for such expressions as 3–4 pigs to a pen.