84

Figures not mating with letters

Decimal fractions are most intelligibly stated in figures, with the decimal point placed on the line of the figure, as it is in .638. The inversion of the decimal point, as in '638, is not an improvement. The decimal point must always precede the decimal figures. If division has to be made between dollars and cents, the point should be before the cents. The ciphers .00 should not be added in paragraph matter to any statement of even dollars: $100 is better than $100.00, which may be confusing. Yet the addition of the ciphers is proper in every table that contains columns separating dollars and cents.

When figures of very large amounts, as 23,762 or 5,368,872, are of frequent recurrence, the thousands should be separated by a comma; but it is not necessary to use the comma for four figures only, as 5962, nor should the comma be inserted between figures that express dates, as 1861.

Figures in a descriptive text are not pleasing, but they are necessary when the amounts are large and of frequent recurrence. To put the figures in the preceding paragraph in words would require more space, and would not be regarded as an improvement by the reader. In the texts of formal documents, however, words are preferred to figures, not only for their greater exactness, but for their neater appearance. As figures are ascending letters, occupying two thirds of the height of the body, the bunching of many of them in a paragraph spots the page and produces the effect of

Numerical names of streets

85

the overbold display of many capital letters. Yet it often happens that neatness must be subordinated to clearness. Figures are more quickly read, are more compact, and are decidedly indispensable for tabular work that is intended to present contrasts or comparisons of amounts or values.

Statistical matter not put in tables often compels the use of figures in a descriptive text, as:

The warehouse held 950 tons of wheat: 500 prime, 240 ordinary, 210 inferior.

The cannon captured were 110 in number: 40 tenpounders, 50 forty-pounders, 15 sixty-pounders, 5 hundred-pounders.

In all encyclopedias, gazetteers, dictionaries, guidebooks, and compact works of similar character, figures are preferred for numerical statements. A similar rule prevails, with occasional exceptions, in some forms of official documents, and exception is rarely made for a short number like 1 or 10.

NUMERICAL NAMES OF STREETS

The numerical names of city streets are presented best in words when the words are not repeated too frequently in the same sentence or paragraph. First Street is better than 1st Street. One-hundredand-sixty-first Street is a somewhat awkward term, but it should be governed by this rule and be uniform with other numerical words.

86

Numerical names of regiments

When the number of the house is placed before the street name, as 65 First Street or 27 One-hundred-and-sixty-first Street, figures are needed to emphasize the difference between the number of the house and that of the street.1

When streets and avenues are frequently mentioned in the same sentence or paragraph, and this treatment is not contrary to that prevailing in other parts of the work, the avenue may take the numerical word and the street the arabic figure or figures, as Fifth Avenue and 125th Street. In directories and other compacted works streets and avenues are necessarily described by figures only. But when a distinction has to be made, the avenue should have the word, the street the figure.

NUMERICAL NAMES OF REGIMENTS

Regiments and corps of the army are easily differentiated by similar treatment. When two or more regiments only are specified in a sentence, as the Fortieth and the One-hundred-and-seventh, words are properly selected; but when in this sentence or paragraph other names occur, as the First Corps, Seventh Corps, etc., then the corps should be specified by numerical words and the regiments by arabic figures. In a newspaper report of a battle or a review the specification of different regiments

1 In England the comma always is put after the number of the house. This is correct, but it is not American usage.

Arabic figures with capital letters 87

by words would make that report needlessly prolix, and sometimes would confuse the reader.

ARABIC FIGURES BAD MATES FOR CAPITALS

Arabic figures are now made to line with the lowercase letters, and are of improved symmetrical form, but they continue to be cast upon the en body for convenience in table-work. They are consequently too weak to be used with capital letters that may be nearly twice as wide. For this reason the dates of some book titles, and the numbers of chapters and of other headings of a book in which numbers have to appear in the same line with capitals, are usually put in roman numerals made of capital letters. When a font has full figures of the width of the average capital letter, these broader figures. may properly be used with the capitals, but figures on the en body should be used with capital letters only when these capitals are of condensed shape.

When arabic figures are required in a display line of old-style capitals, the figures selected should be of a larger body-about one half larger-than the regular capitals, and should be justified to line; but this is possible only in a book title or in very open display.

ROMAN NUMERALS

The insignificance in a line of capital letters of the arabic figures provided for book types compels

88

Numerals made by capital letters

the use of roman numerals for an orderly rendering of dates in title-pages and chapter headings. The numerals in most use are made from combinations of the seven capitals, I, V, X, L, C, D, M:

When letters that represent numbers of low value follow a letter of high value, the added letters give addition to this high value: XIII stands for 13. When a letter of low value precedes a letter of high value, this preceding letter calls for its subtraction from the following letter of higher value : MCM 1900. For some amounts exceeding 2000 the characters 00, X, X, V, and the C inverted as , have to be rudely made by the printer, for these characters are not provided in fonts of book type.1

1 Notation by numerals may be confusing, for the use of the same letter as an adding or subtracting factor allows opportunity for puzzling combinations.

When the compositor is required to put a date in roman numerals, he should prefer the combinations that require few letters: MCM is better than MDCCCC.