Writing out percentages correctly

While I don't doubt that a thousandth of a couple million dollars would be significant, I do doubt that such figures can be reliable (i.e. significant figures in the scientific sense).

Definitely write 4.975%; if it is more than ninety-nine, you use numbers. Maybe spell out percent.

I'm not saying that five thousandths of a percent of $64 billion is not significant. It's certainly a lot of money.

But in working with figures, rounding, inaccuracy, and terms of mathematical calculation bring insignificance into the figures used.

For example:

When multiplying 4.5 times 3.25, your result is 14.625, but because the you only know to an exact amount the tenths figure (4.5) in the first item, that result must be rounded to the tenths place ... making it 14.6. If, however, you knew the first figure to be not 4.5 but 4.52, the result is 14.69, a figure that does not need to be rounded. Even if you knew the hundreths place to be zero, 4.50 times 3.25 is still 14.625, and know you know significance to the hundreths place -- 14.62.

Since its unlikely that in the original accounting or contracts, figures were recorded to the fourth place after the decimal point (when is the last time you took out a bank loan with an APR of 5.2546? I bet it was an APR of 5.25), any results from multiplication or division of the figures would only be mathematically significant to the second place after the decimal point. That they are financially significant is a non-issue.

i don't know if i would rely on the numeric value of the number to determine whether you should spell it out or use numerals. the best way to go is, if you need to use more than two words to describe the number, it's best to use the numerals. "2.8" become "two point eight" so you would use numbers "1,000,000" would become "one million" so it's best to write it out.

I'm no mathematician, but I don't understand how you can have 3 figures as a percentage of 100...percent is latin for 100 and what follows the point wd have to be a fraction or smaller number than 100 or it wd make no sense.
From my newspaper experience it would have been written out in numbers (once more than a total single number is involved).

I agree with some of you: let's leave the discussion of significant figures alone; I don't have my physics textbook handy and I don't doubt the necessity of including so many decimals. (For one thing, I worked at a bank for three years, and we certainly did use several decimal places in certain circumstances: just think of currency exchange rates taken out to six figures on a regular basis.)

Also, in legal writing precision is often more highly valued than succinctness, for many logical reasons. If a check were taken to court, it would be the value written out in words, not in numerals, that would count. Writing an essay is different from writing a legal document.

Let's say "four and nine(-)hundred(-)seventy-five (one-)thousandths percent." I might have to look up those parenthetical hyphens to be sure.

Regarding "... of a percent"; I've heard this before and even said it, but now that I think about it, I don't think it's really correct grammatically. Percent literally means "per hundred". "Per" is already a preposition. Use of "of" would be a double preposition. It would be like saying "I was driving sixty five miles of a per hour."

Also it's interesting that in English, cent can mean either one hundred (from the latin centum) or one hundredth (from the latin centesimus)

Excuse the brain freeze above. i didn't get much sleep last night. Clearly, "of a percent" would be used for something with a fraction of one percent, e.g. "a half of a percent" (or "a half of one percent") and would be correct. I think some style manuals say that "...of a..." should only be used with fractions and not with decimals: "three quarters of a percent" is ok and "point seven five percent", but not "point seven five of a percent". I don't think the "of a" would be required, per se, at least not when the percentage is greater than one, and also not used if the numbers (and/or the word "percent") are not spelled out at words.

Looks like the ABA has to be the final entity to give Marsha (and others) the answer. They must come up with the standard. I do know that it is not a matter of [English] grammar nor scientific, mathematic included. When it comes to law (in any country), it has its own "language". Haven't you all heard: "don't talk law jargon to me, speak English!"
See Marsha what you have started? It IS one of the interesting topics I've seen [here].

I'll bet if you call up the mortgage department of your bank, someone there will know the answer off the top of their head.

Since I'm not an English native speaker, I need someone who will explain to me how the following percentage is written in words: 23.5.

how about .75%? how would I write that? seventy five hundredths of a percent?

Yes, how would you write .75%? Does anyone know?

I was taught in my college comp class to always write out percentages in numerical form.

how do I spell out 6.85%

I need to know to write out 5.65%. Thank you.

"Percent," as Porsche pointed out, means "per hundred" and so it has this inbuilt preposition. The "percent" is also usually treated like a unit of measurement (like kg, m, lb, etc). Therefore, I'd say that "Four and Nine Hundred Seventy-Five Thousandths percent" makes sense. You could perhaps alternatively say "Four and Nine Hundred Seventy-Five Thousandths of a percentage point" but that makes the already stilted lawyerese even worse in my opinion!

Always done it: 39 percent, no matter what the numerical value, in some instances a paper may call for it to be thirty-nine (39%) percent also but that's really old old old legal-ese stuff

We do this frequently for our state legislature. Bills typically require all numbers to be written out. Our local gross receipts tax, for example, has 4 decimal places.

Four and Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousandths percent

To use "of a percent" (not recommended):
Four percent and Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousands of a percent

How do I write in words .069445%

For those of you who insist it should be "four and nine hundred seventy five thousandths percent" or something similar. Here's something to consider. Let's say we ask a few simpler questions in reverse:

How would you write "four point five percent" using only arabic numerals and symbols?

Answer: 4.5%

How would you write "four and a half percent" using only arabic numerals and symbols?

Answer: 4-1/2%

Kinda makes you think, doesn't it?

Oh, and to make the analogy complete, how would you write "four and five tenths percent" using only arabic numerals and symbols?

Answer: 4-5/10%

The reason it needs to be spelled out is for clarification. Sometimes, depending on the font used, time passing and eroding the paper, scanning, etc, the numbers become difficult to read. a 8 can look like a 3 a 7 like a 1, etc. This is why it is required that on Legal Documents which includes numbers also be spelled out. I came upon this site because I too work in the legal field and need help with how to spell out 2.04 percent. I think it is two and four one-hundredths percent, but wanted to be sure. Any body out there have an answer?

You write it as "2.04%". You pronounce it as "two point oh four percent".

Hi All, I looked this up because I too am in the legal field and was trying to determint how to write out an APR of .2%...legalease as you have called it, does indeed REQUIRE that numbers in any form be typed or written out in addition to showing the numerical value.

So, is it Point two percent, or is it Two-tenths Percent?

How do you write in words the following:

2.0459%

Two point zero four five nine percent

People here would say 'oh' instead of zero but in a legal document zero would seem more appropriate.
Again 0.45 might be 'zero point four five', although people might actually say 'nought'

Regarding putting 2.0459% into words - I need the wordage to be in legal terms. For instance, 2.459% would be two and four hundred fifty-nine thousandths percent. I'm just not sure of the wordage when there's 4 numbers behind the decimal.

putting 2.0459% into legal terms:
a) two and four hundred fifty-nine tenthousandths percent

b) one could recast the numbers and words using per mille
or parts-per-million; but the end result would be no clearer to my mind

c) 2.00459% two and four hundred fifty-nine hundredthousandths percent

d) caveat: I am no lawyer and no experience of drafting

How do I write out 32.32%?

Thanks.

@Joan I would suggest:
thirty-two and thirty-two-hundredths percent
or
thirty-two and thirty-two hundredths percent

how do I type out or write 1 and 42 hundredths percent

2.490

I need to write out 65.25476% for a document. Can you help

10% or ten percent (in a legal contractor)? Not at the beginning of a sentence.

It seems to me that the natural way to write figures as words would be the same way as we say them. So 65.25476% would be sixty-five point two five four seven six percent. If the decimals only go to two or three places then we might talk about hundredths or thousandths but rarely beyond that.

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Except for a few basic rules, spelling out numbers vs. using figures (also called numerals) is largely a matter of writers' preference. Again, consistency is the key.
Rule 1 - Spell out all numbers beginning a sentence.
Rule 2 - Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
Rule 3 - Hyphenate all written-out fractions.
Rule 4 - With figures of four or more digits, use commas. Count three spaces to the left to place the first comma. Continue placing commas after every three digits.
Rule 5 - It is not necessary to use a decimal point or a dollar sign when writing out sums of less than a dollar.
Rule 6 - Do not add the word "dollars" to figures preceded by a dollar sign.
Rule 7 - For clarity, use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 PM and 12:00 AM.
Rule 8 - Using numerals for the time of day has become widely accepted.
Rule 9 - Mixed fractions are often expressed in figures unless they begin a sentence.
Rule 10 - Read more at https://www.essaypeer.com

I'm not really sure, but most of the people did it correct I think :)

I am wondering how you say this percentage in words:
.00011 percent.
Is it something like:
One hundredth and one thousandth of one percent??

I am trying to show how SMALL 1100 parts per billion is...

Thank you,

Joanna

Can the word percent ever be written as two separate words? Do the people in the UK write it as per cent?

I do work in the legal field, and @ DebbieA, we do not write "percent" when writing out a percentage. We write it as "per cent". Also, I realize this conversation originated quite some time ago, but - speaking from experience - you MUST write out percentages in legal documents. For instance, in a promissory note, you would say that there was a principal sum with interest "at the rate of three and nine-tenths per cent (3.9%) per annum..." Percentages written out can be very tricky though. I still catch myself having to count exactly how many digits over from the decimal point the percentage goes, so that I will accurately reflect that amount when putting it into words.

i am stuck on a legal document: how to express "four whole seventy-three thousand percent"

Four and seventy-three thousandths per cent ??? (4.073%)

How do you spell out 6.75%?

I have to say that character graphic at the top of the home page is priceless! Having her pop up and say "Good luck, genius" when someone clicks "No" is truly inspired. I'm saving this site for when I do need proofreading - timidity is a bad quality in a proofreader.