Re: Use fully-spelled numbers

[Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net>]

Yeah, I _know_ it's off topic, but . . . 

Yay! Another Beatles fan (though, that particular track is not on anybody's 
"Really favorite" list).

(For those who don't know, "Revolution No. 9", from The Beatles "White Album", 
disc 2, side 2, track 5.More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_9)

-- Kenpo in Atlanta




________________________________
From: Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Fri, February 8, 2013 12:28:31 PM
Subject: Re: Use fully-spelled numbers

*Number nine, number nine, number nine......*

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 9:27 PM, Combs, Richard <richard -dot- combs -at- polycom -dot- com>wrote:

> Liu, Peter wrote:
>
> > Under what condition would you use fully spelled numbers (eg. Nine
> instead of
> > 9)? One developer always change all the numbers to letters. I found it
> harder
> > to recognize and read than the real numbers but wonder what is the
> proper way
> > of using the numbers?
>
> It depends. :-) Do you have a style guide? If so, follow that. If not, I'd
> recommend the Microsoft Manual of Style. It has a pretty thorough and
> (IMHO) eminently reasonable discussion of this issue. Here are some
> excerpts from version 3 (the one I have handy in electronic form)(note
> especially the first sentence; who decides doc conventions at your place,
> you or some developer?):
>
> The use of numerals versus words is primarily a matter of convention.
> Microsoft uses the following conventions:
>
> Use numerals for 10 and above. Spell out zero through nine if the number
> does not precede a unit of measure or is not used as input. For round
> numbers of 1 million or more, use a numeral plus the word, even if the
> prefix number is less than 10.
> Correct
> 10 screen savers
> 20 booklets
> 1,000
> one thousand
> five databases
> zero probability
> 7 million
> 7,990,000
>
> Incorrect
> 2 disks
> 0 offset
> eighteen books
> twelve functions
> 1 thousand
> 7 million and 990 thousand
>
> Use numerals for all measurements, even if the number is under 10. This is
> true whether the measurement is spelled out, abbreviated, or replaced by a
> symbol. Measurements include distance, temperature, volume, size, weight,
> points, picas, and so on, but generally not days, weeks, or other units of
> time. Bits and bytes are also considered units of measure.
> Correct
> 0 inches
> 3 feet, 5 inches
> 3.5-inch disk
> 0.75 gram
> 35mm camera
> 8 bits
> 1-byte error value
> two years
> ...
> Maintain consistency among categories of information; that is, if one
> number in a category requires a numeral, use numerals for all numbers in
> that category. When two numbers that refer to separate categories must
> appear together, spell out one of them.
> Correct
> One booklet has 16 pages, one has 7 pages, and the third has only 5 pages.
> ten 12-page booklets
> ...
> Represent numbers taken from examples or the interface exactly as they
> appear in the example or the interface.
>
> Use an en dash, not a hyphen, with negative numbers: -79.
>
> Avoid starting a sentence with a numeral. If necessary, add a modifier
> before a number. If starting a sentence with a number cannot be avoided,
> spell out the number.
> ...
>
> And much, much more. Highly recommended.
>
> HTH! And BTW, I hate that annoying little pig. :-)
>
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-903-6372
> ------
>
>
>
>
>
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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for creating mobile help.

Learn more: http://bit.ly/WNaCzd

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for creating mobile help.

Learn more: http://bit.ly/WNaCzd

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