Writing large numbers
English translation: write out million and billion but not thousand or lesser
| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 11:10 May 23, 2010 |
| English language (monolingual) [PRO] Bus/Financial - Finance (general) / Large numbers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
|  Selected response from: Stephanie Ezrol United States Local time: 17:30 | ||||||
Grading comment
| |||||||
| SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 +1 | 20 thousand is fine! |
| ||
| 5 | rule of thumb |
| ||
| 4 | write out million and billion but not thousand or lesser |
|
| Discussion entries: 2 | |
|---|---|
Answers
16 mins confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| writing large numbers 20 thousand is fine! Explanation: The general rule that I follow is to write numbers of ten or less as words. 20,000 or 20 thousand or twenty thousand are all acceptable. For financial statements, it helps to be consistent, so 20,000 may be preferable if other numbers in the thousands are mentioned. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 mins (2010-05-23 11:32:07 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Try the Guardian style guide: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/200... numbers Spell out from one to nine; integers from 10 to 999,999; thereafter use m or bn for sums of money, quantities or inanimate objects in copy, eg £10m, 5bn tonnes of coal, 30m doses of vaccine; but million or billion for people or animals, eg 1 million people, 3 billion rabbits, etc; in headlines use m or bn numeracy Numbers have always contained power, and many a journalist will tremble at the very sight of them. But most often the only maths we need to make sense of them is simple arithmetic. Far more important are our critical faculties, all too often switched off at the first sniff of a figure. (The numeracy section is very good!) |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
1 hr confidence:
| writing large numbers write out million and billion but not thousand or lesser Explanation: Many style guides suggest spelling out million and billion. I prefer that approach. "Numbers◦ In nearly all manuscripts, write out numbers from one to one hundred, then start using numerals: 101, 347. Write out large round numbers that occur in isolation and can be expressed in two unhyphenated words: four hundred, sixty thousand, twenty million.◦Spell out the word percent and express percentages in this way: 3.4 percent, 11 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent, 50–85 percent.◦Smaller numbers in the company of larger ones are expressed in a complementary way: The percentages were 5, 20 and 121. The two jobs call for seventeen and six hundred workers, respectively.◦Express large dollar amounts in this way: $46,000, $50 million, $3.1 billion.◦In manuscripts with lots of numbers — books on statistics, for example — you will want to use numerals after one or ten and you will also want to use the percentage sign (%)." http://www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/page/Style-Guide Express thousands of dollars this way, using a comma: ✎ $5,000 17 Express millions and billions of dollars this way: ✎ $3 million; $1.2 billion In technical reports and papers, use a dollar sign to express costs under $1.00: AND For numbers of 1 million or more, use the numeral (and a decimal, if necessary) and the words million, billion, and so on: ✎ 1.1 million households 3.5 billion people $2.5 million in funding http://www.nrel.gov/docs/gen/fy01/24935.pdf Millions and Billions Use figures with million or billion, except in casual uses. Spell out the word million. The contract is worth $7 billion. We hope to save our clients tens of millions of dollars. AND from CSC, see page 24 http://assets1.csc.com/styleguide/downloads/Corporate_Editor... |
| |
Grading comment
| ||
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
16 hrs confidence:
| writing large numbers rule of thumb Explanation: In financial statements you write it as "twenty thousand (20,000)" or - there were ten thousand (10,000) cars produced during the month of December. You always use the words and then in brackets after the number. With a financial statement it is generally not a round number such as 20,000. so it is more likely going to be. During the month of December twenty thousand four hundred and five (20,405) cars were produced. The reasion for this is clarity of the production figures and for the tracking of rises and falls in production. Financial statements are deciphered to the last point and are read word for word, as people looking to invest look for signs of fluctuations, so every number has to be made absolutely clear. If it is a article, (newspaper, magazine) then writing 20 thousand is ok Tojo reported that it produced 20 thousand cars during December. you don't use the full number as it can end up with a decimal point or comma in the wrong place. In an article, it is generally a rounded up or down number so there does not have to be such exactness in the report. These reports get read quickly and are used as general information, so they don't need the clarity of the number as a financial statement requires. --------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 20 hrs (2010-05-24 07:13:00 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- It is the way I do all my financial statements and as most financial statements are confidential it will be hard for you to locate one to reference to, especially a professional one. When you write an abstract of a report, you use a short form, and a long more defined format as shown above, in the report. You have to make up your own mind as to what you use, but we do it this way so that there is no misunderstanding of the volume or for the $ value being mentioned. An example of using the short form mistake was when a share trader put in a sale of 1,000,000,000.00 shares instead of 1,000,000.00 and caused billions of share sell offs and a mini collapse on the US stock market. The format you use must absolutely not be misunderstood by the reader, when it is an important report like a financial report. A financial report is a legal document, like a contract and needs to be treated as such. It is a rule of thumb and common sense is required.. We do ours this way because we work under ISO 9002 Quality assurance, and have it as one of our steps for quality. "Clarity and ease of understanding of all printed documents and reports." I have a manufacturing business... |
| ||
Notes to answerer
| |||
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | |||
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
KudoZ™ translation help
The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.
See also:
Search millions of term translations