Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic rules of writing
- 2 Comments on scientific language
- 3 Drafting the manuscript
- 4 Choosing a journal
- 5 Preparing a graph
- 6 How to design tables
- 7 Title
- 8 Authors
- 9 Abstract
- 10 Introduction
- 11 Methods
- 12 Results
- 13 Discussion
- 14 Acknowledgments
- 15 References
- 16 Numbers
- 17 Abbreviations
- 18 Common statistical errors
- 19 Typing
- 20 The covering letter
- 21 Dealing with editors and referees
- 22 Correcting proofs
- 23 Authors' responsibilities
- Literature needed on your desk
- Further reading
- Literature cited
- Index
16 - Numbers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic rules of writing
- 2 Comments on scientific language
- 3 Drafting the manuscript
- 4 Choosing a journal
- 5 Preparing a graph
- 6 How to design tables
- 7 Title
- 8 Authors
- 9 Abstract
- 10 Introduction
- 11 Methods
- 12 Results
- 13 Discussion
- 14 Acknowledgments
- 15 References
- 16 Numbers
- 17 Abbreviations
- 18 Common statistical errors
- 19 Typing
- 20 The covering letter
- 21 Dealing with editors and referees
- 22 Correcting proofs
- 23 Authors' responsibilities
- Literature needed on your desk
- Further reading
- Literature cited
- Index
Summary
A commonly accepted practise has been to spell out small numbers, for example those below 10. However, authorities on style, such as the Council of Biology Editors' Style Manual Committee (1994, 195) and the authors of the American Medical Association Manual of Style (1998, 511), have drawn up a new rule stating that numbers should be expressed in figures rather than in words in most circumstances:
In 1 of the 9 patients …
However, we should still spell out numbers that begin a sentence. The following example is from the abstract of a published paper:
Three thousand eight hundred and seventy-six mothers were examined by ultrasound at 7–12 weeks of gestation. One hundred and sixty-six (4.3%) were found to have a dead fetus.
But many readers find it difficult to grasp large numbers written in words, as in the example shown. Note how much easier to comprehend the passage becomes when it is recast so that the numbers fall somewhere in the middle:
Ultrasound examination of 3876 women at 7–12 weeks of gestation showed that 166 (4.3%) had a dead fetus.
Two numbers side by side
Placing unrelated numbers next to each other confuses the reader, as in this example taken from Mosteller (1992):
This group of patients with leukemia had an average white-cell count of 257, 112 lymphocytes and 145 other types.
Separate the numbers:
This group of patients with leukemia had an average white-cell count of 257, of which 112 were lymphocytes and 145 other types.
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- Information
- How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper , pp. 83 - 88Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003