Page:U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual 2008.djvu/294

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Chapter 12.

Words such as nearly, about, around, approximately, etc., do not reflect indefinite expressions.

The bass weighed about 6 pounds.
She was nearly 8 years old.
12.23.

Except as indicated in rules 12.5 and 12.9, a number less than 10 is spelled out within a sentence.

six horses
five wells
eight times as large
but
3½ cans
2½ times or 2.5 times
12.24.

For typographic appearance and easy grasp of large numbers beginning with million, the word million or billion is used.

The following are guides to treatment of figures as submitted in copy. If copy reads—

$12,000,000, change to $12 million
2,750,000,000 dollars, change to $2,750 million
2.7 million dollars, change to $2.7 million
2⅝ million dollars, change to $2⅝ million
two and one-half million dollars, change to $2½ million
a hundred cows, change to 100 cows
a thousand dollars, change to $1,000
a million and a half, change to 1½ million
two thousand million dollars, change to $2,000 million
less than a million dollars, change to less than $1 million

but $2,700,000, do not convert to $2.7 million

also $10 to $20 million; 10 or 20 million; between 10 and 20 million

4 million of assets
amounting to 4 million
$1,270,000
$1,270,200,000
$¾% billion; $2.75 billion; $2,750 million
$500,000 to $1 million