July 2023: numbers overview

Greetings colleagues!

Images and descriptive text invoke strong messages, but numbers are often also part of the storytelling. This month’s Quick Style Tips edition provides a general overview of numbers. Refer to the Chicago Manual of Style for more detailed treatment of the topic.

In nontechnical contexts, spell out whole numbers from zero through one hundred and round multiples of those numbers. For example:

  • Thirty-two children from eleven families were packed into eight vintage Beetles.
  • The property is held on a ninety-nine-year lease.
  • According to a recent appraisal, my house is 103 years old.
  • The population of the United States recently surpassed three hundred million.

When a number begins a sentence, it is always spelled out: 

  • Nineteen thirty-seven was marked, among other things, by the publication of the eleventh edition of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
  • One hundred eighty of the 214 candidates had law degrees.

See the hyphen chart for details about when to hyphenate numbers.

Dashes

Use an en dash to indicate continuing or inclusive numbers in ranges of dates, times, or reference numbers. For instance: 50 BC–AD 45, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., 1930–1950. However, for the sake of parallel construction, the words to, through, or until, never the en dash, should be used if the word from precedes the first element in such a pair; similarly, and should be used if between precedes the first element. For example:

  • I have blocked out December 2016–March 2017 to complete my manuscript.
  • She attended college from 2012 to 2016 (not “from 2012–16”).

Telephone numbers

Use hyphens only, not parentheses: 541-346-XXXX. Use of the on‑campus five-digit number (6 + last four digits) is acceptable for internal communications but use the ten-digit number otherwise.

Ordinals

Use 122nd and 123rd (with an n and an r) over 122d and 123d (common in legal style).

The letters in ordinal numbers should not appear as superscripts (e.g., 122nd, not 122nd):

  • She found herself in 125th position out of 360.
  • The 122nd and 123rd days of the strike were marked by a rash of defections.

Do not use ordinals, however, with dates in text:

  • The art exhibition was held June 23 in the atrium at the museum.

Questions? Email editor Sharleen Nelson, University Communications.