# Grammar Format? Numbers in Text **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945 "2015-06-19T14:19:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/1 "2015-06-19T14:19:43Z")
What is the origin for why many will spell out AND show numbers in the text of a document? For example, …“I have five (5) toes.”… I was hoping for a factual answer, else we can WAG all day long. Could it have started with legalese when we once mailed-in three (3) proofs of purchase seals? Sorry, but I’d really like to know who insists on doing this and why. So unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/2 "2015-06-19T14:40:26Z")
No one (1) that I know does this - can you show an example from a recent document? ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/3 "2015-06-19T14:40:52Z")
Generally, it’s to avoid misunderstandings. For example, if I put 233 (twenty-three dollars) then it's clear that the second "3" is a typo. It can also be a way to prevent someone from making alterations. If a coupon says says 5 off, someone might try to write a “1” in between the $ and the 5 so now it says $15 off, but if it’s also written out “five dollars off” then it’s a lot harder to change “five” to “fifteen”. Another source of misunderstanding is people who don’t speak a language fluently. I was in a restaurant in France when the waiter told me the price of an item from the menu but he was speaking French and even though I clearly heard the word he used, I couldn’t remember if that was the French word for thirty or the French word for thirteen. But if I saw it written with Arabic numerals “30” then there’d be no confusion. Previous threads discussing this question: > **[Why put numbers such as this one (1) in parentheses?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=13989)** > > What is the point of putting the “numerical” form of the number in parentheses right after the text version in an announcement? i.e., “The lottery winner will have up to two (2) years to claim his / her prize.” Seems like a throwback to a more simple... > **[Do I really need to write out the value on a check?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=643551)** > > Say I’m writing a check and feeling lazy and don’t want to write out the amount on the second line as I usually do, (for example): “One thousand three hundred eighty seven dollars and 14/100-------------” What if I just put ... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/4 "2015-06-19T14:46:28Z")
Bryan Garner says it’s a holdover from the days of handwritten legal documents, when numerals could easily be altered or might just be illegible. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/5 "2015-06-19T15:10:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Bryan Garner says it’s a holdover from the days of handwritten legal documents, when numerals could easily be altered or might just be illegible. Come to think of it, I wrote my first cheque this year to pay a gardner. I wrote the amount both ways as always, to stop anyone from altering it. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/6 "2015-06-19T15:19:25Z")
Also recall that there are two word styles. The one used in the US (and I believe most of the world now) is what was once called the French system. In that system one million is 1,000,000 and one billion is 1,000,000,000 (Yes I know not all countries use commas as the separators. It’s the number of zeros that matters.) In the (old) British system 1,000,000,000 was a thousand million and a billion was 1,000,000,000,000 or a million million. This continued on up so that a trillion was a million billion rather than a thousand billion. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-format-numbers-in-text/722945/7 "2015-06-19T15:47:26Z")
It prevents alteration. If you write a document: “I will pay you $1,” that’s easily altered to read “I will pay you $1000” (if you write small enough).