# Why put numbers such as this one (1) in parentheses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2000, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148 "2000-03-24T17:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/41 "2015-01-23T18:58:25Z")
This is why I don’t write checks, and if I ever run a business, I will refuse to take them. They’re inconvenient, outdated, error-prone, slow and insecure. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/42 "2015-01-23T20:12:42Z")
I deal with many businesses that do not have the capability or want to take electronic money transfers. 800 miles is too far from me to take cash to them. Money order scams abound, banks are leery… My bank has free checking and send pays my bill’s either electronically or by check in the mail. ( I love it ) No one has sent the bank checks back or refused them so far. Day ain’t over yet either so we will see how it shakes out … So to have a business that only accepts electronic money transfers could be problematic. What about cash and the chance of counterfeit money? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/43 "2015-01-23T20:46:04Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > What about cash and the chance of counterfeit money? Counterfeit money is much rarer than bad checks, and they don’t have my bank account number prominently printed on them for anyone to see and use. ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/44 "2015-01-23T21:16:43Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > This is why I don’t write checks, and if I ever run a business, I will refuse to take them. They’re inconvenient, outdated, error-prone, slow and insecure. The handful of bad checks we get each year adds up to maybe 1/10 of 1% of the total. OTOH, credit cards cost us 2.75% right off the top, and they have problems too (sometimes a transaction is revoked, or it was the wrong amount). When something goes wrong, I’d much rather have a piece of paper in my hand with the customer’s signature on it than a string of number read to me over the telephone. As for driving many miles to deposit checks, both of my banks have Remote Deposit. But it only works for checks and money orders, not cash. As for bad money orders, our policy is that the only money orders we accept are U.S. Postal money orders, which can actually be cashed at the Post Office. Anyway, it’s not just on checks that we spell out the amounts. We do that on contracts too. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/45 "2015-01-23T21:49:08Z")
We still write out dollar amounts (numbers in parentheses) in circuit court filings, but not the the administrative hearing office that most of my practice occurs in. My boss still make his transcriptionist put both words and numbers in his dictated letters, and it drives me nuts when I see it. Props to 15-years-ago **Billdo** for the UCC reference. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonlordfrodo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dragonlordfrodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonlordfrodo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/46 "2015-01-24T12:59:24Z")
Sometimes I make fun of this convention by doing math in parentheses. For example: “I was walking the dog earlier today and I found a crisp one hundred (25 + 75) dollar bill on the sidewalk. So I took the dog the dog back in the house and went to best buy to purchase a new eighty (10 + 50 - 20 + 90 - 50) inch TV.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/47 "2015-01-24T13:01:36Z")
I wonder if the practice of doing it with punctuation marks is connected to this, or is really just for clarity as I had always assumed. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/48 "2015-01-24T13:32:34Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > In 1979, my sister almost went to jail for a discrepancy of sixty cents. … If my sister had written “two and seventy-nine hundredths” everything would have been fine. Here’s [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11292587&postcount=5](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11292587&postcount=5) a similar story involving me vs. the IRS. Fortunately no cops/jail/revenooers were involved. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/49 "2015-01-24T13:44:39Z")
So would a cheque be accepted by a bank if you put numerals in both sections, without writing the amount out in full at all? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148/50 "2015-01-24T13:59:54Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > **Yikes!** > > From [http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/](http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/) (the eleven rules of writing), rule #11: > > This is supported by [http://www.bartleby.com/64/2.html](http://www.bartleby.com/64/2.html) in the section on wordiness: > > I didn’t read much further because that site was awfully wordy… Hey **Patty O’Furniture** (I think you’re still around aren’t you?) fifteen years ago you totally misunderstood that other person’s post. They weren’t saying verbosity is always good in all contexts, they were saying it’s not considered a vice specifically in Legalese. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-put-numbers-such-as-this-one-1-in-parentheses/9148.md?page=2)