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CeliaM.Elliott
Physicsisaquantitativescience.Thus,numbersmustberepresentedinawaythat
ensuresareaderinterpretsthemcorrectly.Tomakesurethatwereallspeaking
thesamequantitativelanguage,ruleshaveevolvedabouthownumericalvaluesare
presentedinwriting.
Learntherules,andhewtothemwitlessly.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Inthisexample,areadermightinterprethundredthousandasarange(100to
1000),acollectionofonehundred1000spinsets,orasinglenumber(100000).
Fortunately,wehavestandardrulesabouttheexpressionofnumbersinscientific
writingtoavoidambiguityandtoensurethatareaderassignsthesamemeaningto
anumberthatthewriterintended.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Numbersarewrittenaswordsonly forquantitiesthathavebeencounted.Ifthe
numberistheresultofameasurementoracalculation,itmust beexpressedin
numerals.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
REMINDER:Numbersarewrittenaswordsonly forquantitiesthathavebeen
counted.Ifthenumberistheresultofameasurementoracalculation,itmust be
expressedinnumerals.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Notethattheunitofmeasureisgivenaftereachnumber,andthetimessymbolisused
insteadoftheletterx.
Toobtainthetimessymbol,usetheinsertsymbolfunctioninMSWordorPowerPoint,
ortype\timesinLaTeX.
Toavoidawkwardbreaksthatmaroonthenumberattheendofalineoftext(e.g.,7
mm)andtheunitatthebeginningofthenextline,asinthisexample,trainyourselfto
typeanonbreakingspacebetweenallnumbersandunits.Doiteverytimeuntilits
automatic.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Itisimportanttosetlettersusedtosymbolizephysicalquantitiesinitalicsto
distinguishthemfromtherestofthetext.
Intypography,Romantextisstraightupanddown,likethistext,anditalicstextis
slanted,likethis.Romanreferstothetextstyle,notthefontortypefacename
(e.g.Helvetica,Times,CenturySchoolbook).
Notethatabbreviationsforunitsareneveritalicized.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Notethatthedegreesymbol(0)isusedonlyfortemperaturesintheCelsiusor
Fahrenheitranges.TheSIunit,kelvin(K),isanabsoluteunit,notadegreebased
onsomearbitraryscale.Thus,writingoKordegreesKelvinisincorrect.
Someolderpapersmayshowtemperatureas oK,butthatusewaschangedbyThe
GeneralConferenceonWeightsandMeasures(French:Confrence gnrale des
poids etmesures CGPM)in1967.
Notealsothatunitsareabbreviatedwhentheydescribeaquantitythathasbeen
calculatedormeasured.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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Somesubdisciplinesofphysicsareadoptingthechangefasterthanothers;youll
seenumberspresentedbothways.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Again,trainyourselftoinsertanonbreakingspacebetweenthenumberandthe
wordtoavoidawkwardlinebreaks.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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NoticethattheexampleSeventyfivemmholesweredrilled...,whichattemptsto
observethedontbeginasentencewithanumberexpressedinnumeralsrule,is
tantalizinglyripeformisinterpretation.
Isit70holes,5mmindiametereach?
Isit75holes,1mmindiametereach?
Orisitsomeindeterminatenumberof75mmholesthatweredrilledinthe
sample?
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
CeliaM.Elliott
Ingeneral,all wimpyqualifiersshouldbeavoidedinscientificwritingbespecific
andquantitative.
TheAmericanauthorMarkTwainhadsomestrongopinionsaboutqualifiers;he
wasparticularlyopposedthetheprofligateuseofvery.Hisadviceeverytime
youaretemptedtowritevery,substitutedamn.Thenyoureditorwillremove
allthedamnsforthesakeofpropriety,andyourwritingwillbemuchimproved.
HeedMarkTwain.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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Notethatk(kilo)isalways writtenlowercasewhenitmeansthousands.
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Ifthenumbercomesafterthenoun,thephraseistreatedasatitleandis
capitalizedaccordingly.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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*Althoughtheruleisthatpercentshouldbewrittenoutinrunningtext,usage
isevolving,andthe%signappearsmoreandmorefrequentlyinphysicspapers.
AlthoughMs.Pisloathtoabandonaprinciple,shethinksthisfightisprobablylost
andreluctantlyabandonstherule.
Reminder:Anyphysicalquantitythathasbeenmeasuredorcalculatedmustbe
expressedinnumerals.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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Highlyrecommendedreading:VernonBooth,CommunicatinginScience:Writinga
scientificpaperandspeakingatscientificmeetings,2nd edition(Cambridge,UK,
CambridgeUniversityPress,1993).
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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Morethanyoueverwantedtoknowabouthyphenation:
http://people.physics.illinois.edu/Celia/Lectures/Dashes.pdf.
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Formoreinformationonthedifferencebetweenhyphensanddashesinscientific
writing,seehttp://people.physics.illinois.edu/Celia/Lectures/Dashes.pdf.
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Neverwritetwoadjacentnumbersinnumerals;useacombinationofnumeralsand
wordstoavoidambiguityandmistakesininterpretation.
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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WritingNumbersinTechnicalDocuments, 3/24/2015
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RecommendedReferences:
ScientificStyleandFormat:TheCBEManualforAuthors,Editors,andPublishers,
6thed.(CambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork,1994).(Latereditionsareavailable,
butthe6thed.containseverythingyoullneedtoknow.)
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