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Subject:Percent: use GPO style for Congress From:"Morris, Margaret K" <MORRIMK1 -at- APLMSG -dot- JHUAPL -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 10 Jul 1997 14:11:50 -0400
On 8 Jul. 1997, Diane Williams asked:
>My question is about using the % symbol vs. spelling out "percent" in a
>report to Congress from the US Army about the efficiency of a computer
>program. I'd prefer to use the % symbol because it appears so many
times
>in some paragraphs when referring to the accuracy of the information
>produced by the program.
Whether to use "percent" or % is a matter of style, not Right or Wrong.
There is a style guide for reports to Congress. It is used by the GPO
for all printing done for Congress, and its use is required (often
spelled out as a line item requirement in contracts, even) in other US
government agencies (Army included) . (This requirement is widely
ignored, of course, for many reasons, but that's another discussion.)
The Government Printing Office (GPO) style manual is the governing
authority here. As far as I know, the latest edition is 1984. Rule
10.5, page 155, says :
"Following a figure the percent symbol is used in areas where space will
not allow the word _percent_ to be used. The spelled form is preferred."
So, if you follow the style Congress has said in law that it wants used,
you can use % if space is tight, but should spell it out otherwise. (Of
course how you define limited space is up to you. Perhaps "many uses in
a paragraph" could be considered as a reason for calling the spacing
limited....)
Margaret
Margaret Knox Morris, Technical Editor/Writer
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723
margaret -dot- morris -at- jhuapl -dot- edu
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