cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21049862

The only numbers I will ever spell are one and zero, and only when using them as a pronoun, or for emphasis, respectively.

Is there ever a reason to not to use symbols when dealing with numbers? Why would “fourteen whatevers” ever be preferable to “14 whatevers”. It’s just so much easier to read numbers as symbols, not spelled out.

(Caveat, not including multipliers, like “273 billion”).

  • biovoidEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    I’ll write out a count without a digit if it’s immediately next to a value. Like without other qualifiers: “three 500 kVA transformers”, versus “3 500 kVA transformers” (horrible), or even “three [3] 500 kVA transformers” (acceptable, but perhaps cluttered)

    (Also note the space between value and unit—technically required but I’m not consistent about it)