Are you good with numbers? Mladen Marinac, teaching assistant Department of Agriculture Polytechnic of Rijeka

Quiz: 1 What is the proper way of writing 12,839 using words? a) twelve thousands eight hundreds and thirty-nine b) twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty nine c) twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine

What is the proper way of writing DECIMALS in English? 5,36 5.36 5:36

3 What is the correct way of writing 452,210 in words in British English? four hundred and fifty-two thousand two hundred and ten four hundred fifty-two thousand two hundred ten four hundred and fifty two thousand two hundred and ten

4 What is the correct way of expressing ⅔ ? two-slash-three two thirds two to the power of three

5 How would you say the percentage 0.25%? a) zero point twenty-five percent b) a quarter of one percent c) a twenty-five of one prcent

6 How would you pronounce the year 1899? one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine eighteen ninety-nine ninety-nine eighteen

7 How would you pronounce the following: $5? a) dollars five b) dollar five c) five dollars

three to the power of five three times five 8 How would you pronounce the following:   35?   three to the power of five three times five c) five to the power of three

Answer key: 1) 12, 839 c) twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine → in English the words hundred (100), thousand (1, 000) and million (1, 000, 000) are never in plural 2) 5.36 b) five point three six → when it comes to decimals in English, there is no comma (,) 3) 452,210 a) four hundred and fifty two thousand two hundred and ten → in British English and separates the hundreds and the numbers which follow, but this is not the case with US English

e.g. four fifths (4/5), a third (1/3), a sixth (1/6) 4) ⅔ b) two thirds → most fractions are expressed using ordinal numbers e.g. four fifths (4/5), a third (1/3), a sixth (1/6) 5) 0.25% b) a quarter of one percent or zero /nought point two five

6) the year 1899 b) eighteen ninety-nine 7) $5 c) five dollars 8) 35 three to the power of five e.g. 82 (eight to the power of two)

Some basic rules on writing numerals

CARDINAL NUMBERS a cardinal number is a number that says how many of something there are such as one, two, three, four… Number Word zero, nought 4 four 14 fourteen 40 forty 56 fifty-six 142 one hundred and forty-two

the numbers from 13 (thirteen) to 19 (nineteen) all end in -teen this is the reason why people from thirteen to nineteen years of age are called teenagers e.g. seventeen

ORDINAL NUMBERS an ordinal number is a number that says a position of something in a list the definite article (the) is used before ordinal numbers Number Word 1st the first 2nd the second 3rd the third 4th the fourth 14th the fourteenth 30th the thirtieth 31st the thirty-first 100th the hundredth 1000th the thousandth

no. cardinal ordinal 22 twenty-two 22nd the twenty-second 93 When writing both ordinal and cardinal numbers, you should use a hyphen (-) for numbers from twenty-one (21) to ninety-nine (99). e.g. no. cardinal ordinal 22 twenty-two 22nd the twenty-second 93 ninety-three 93rd the ninety-third

YEARS the year is normally split up in tens (e.g. the year 1865 - 18 I 65 - eighteen sixty-five) from 2000 to 2009 the year is not normally divided (e.g. 2001 - two thousand and one) from 2010 on, the year is split up again (e.g. 2011 - twenty eleven)

BEWARE: YEAR AMERICAN ENGLISH BRITISH ENGLISH 2001 TWO THOUSAND ONE TWO THOUSAND AND ONE

LET’S PRACTICE! Correct the following examples of writing numbers in words: 4th - forth 14 - forty 1989 - one thousand eighty-nine 56th – the fifty-sixth 3,44

Check your answers! 4th - forth the fourth b) 14 - forty fourteen c) 1989 - one thousand eighty-nine nineteen eighty-nine 56th the fifty-sixth 3,44 – three comma four four three point four four

2 Write the following numerals in words: the year 1765 the year 2003 23rd 40th 5.35 % 14

Check your answers! the year 1765 seventeen sixty-five b) the year 2003 two thousand (and) three c) 23rd the twenty-third d) 40th the fortieth e) 5.35 % five point three five percent f) 14 fourteen

3 Write the following numerals in words: b) 165 c) $ 7 d) 4/5 e) 0.36% f) 82

Check your answers! 40 forty 165 one hundred and sixty-five $ 7 seven dollars 4/5 four fifths 0.36% zero point three six 82 eight to the power of two

References: Tullis-Trappe: »New Insights into Business» - Students' Book, Longman Tullis-Power: »New Insights into Business» - Teacher’s Book, Longman