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Numbers

Guidance for numbers, dates, times, and currency in Equal Experts content.

Quick Reference

  • Words vs figures: Spell out one to ten; use figures for 11 and above
  • Always figures: Percentages, measurements, and currency always use figures and symbols (10%, 1.61m, £4m)
  • Dates: Day before month, no "th"/"st", never "the" (13 April, not the 13th of April)
  • Times: 12-hour uses a full stop (11.30am); 24-hour uses a colon (13:00). Don't mix the two
  • Currency: Default to a generic £ for global content; use local currency for single-country content
  • Large numbers: Use commas for thousands (3,000); abbreviate very large round numbers (1k, 2m)

Words or Figures

  • Spell out whole numbers from one to ten: "We worked with the client for two months."
  • Use figures for 11 and above: "Our work involved 35 teams across the organisation."
  • If a number is the first word of a sentence, spell it out: "Eleven people worked in the team."
  • If a paragraph has multiple figures, use figures throughout so readers can compare easily: "There were 2 people in the team when we started, and 22 when we finished."

Exception: percentages, measurements, and currency always use figures and symbols, even below 11 (see below).

Ordinals

  • Spell out first to tenth: "She was the first person to see the problem."
  • Use figures with st, nd, rd, th for larger ordinals: "The 19th president of the United States was Rutherford B Hayes."

Percentages, Measurements, and Currency

Always use figures and symbols, regardless of the one-to-ten rule.

  • Percentages: Use the % symbol with the figure (10%, 12.5%). For a range, "40–60%" (en dash, no space)
  • Measurements: "The average height of a woman in the UK is 1.61m." Leave a space when spelling out units in prose where it reads naturally
  • Currency: See Money and currency below

Large Numbers

  • Use commas as thousand separators: "We reviewed 3,000 lines of code."
  • For very large round numbers, combine a figure with a word or letter, or abbreviate to 1k or 2m: "The population of the earth is now more than 7 billion people." / "The budget came in at just under £2m."
  • Keep formatting consistent across tables and lists.

Money and Currency

  • The default currency is a generic £ sign on anything that may be referenced globally
  • If content is intended for a single country, adopt the local currency: "Our US-based client has seen efficiencies in the region of $1.3m."
  • Abbreviate large round amounts: "The cost savings for our client were £4m."

Dates

  • Always put the date before the month — even in US-focused content, for clarity: "Easter this year is on 13 April." / "Armistice Day is on 11 November."
  • Don't use "th", "st", "nd", or "rd" with dates, and never precede the number with "the"
  • Shorten periods of time where it isn't ambiguous: "The First World War (1914–18)."
  • For a financial year, use the format "2020–21": "The company did better in 2020–21 than in 2019–20."
  • Use the day of the week with a date only for emphasis or to avoid confusion: "The Agile on the Beach conference starts on Friday 13 April."
  • In code, data, and other technical fields where an unambiguous machine format is needed, ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) is acceptable; it is the exception, not the prose style.

Time

  • Use either the 12-hour or 24-hour clock — not both in the same text
  • 12-hour clock: Use a full stop between hours and minutes, with am/pm: "The meeting starts at 11.30am and ends at 1pm."
  • 24-hour clock: Use a colon and omit am/pm: "The meeting starts at 11:30 and ends at 13:00."
  • Use "noon" or "midnight" instead of "12", "12 noon", or "12 midnight"
  • When you use "from" with a start time or date, pair it with "to" for the end — not a dash: "The third financial quarter runs from October to December."
  • Specify a time zone when the reader needs to act or compare across regions ("2.30pm GMT")

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