How to write decimal values in words

Question

I have 1210.802 units in a mutual fund. How do I write it in words?

"One thousand two hundred and ten..." How do I write the decimal units here?

"One thousand two hundred and ten" ... that "and" is British-speak, often omitted in the US.

J.R. · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-29 11:19:01Z

I wonder: if you must complete the form using words, is it necessary to include the fractional part? One could say:

or,

If you must be absolutely precise, though, you might use:

One thousand, two hundred and ten units, plus eight hundred and two thousandths of a unit.

My goodness, though! After you write such a monstrosity, do what Barrie suggested, and put the number in parentheses.

Hmm, whether it's "necessary" to include the fractional part surely depends on the context. If each share is worth $10,000, I don't think I'd want to just forget about the fractional share. Well, maybe if I had ten million dollars another eight thousand would seem like pocket change. Sadly, I'm unlikely to ever know.

Schroedingers Cat · Answer 2 · 2012-02-29 09:09:18Z

up vote 3 down vote

And the numbers afterwards are individual:

One thousand two hundred and ten point eight oh two.

But, as per @Barrie, why? I can think of no case where this would be necessary or appropriate.

answered Feb 29 '12 at 9:09

Schroedingers Cat
2,8971415

	And it risks confusion to do so. – Barrie England Feb 29 '12 at 9:16
	I need to fill up a form wherein I have to mention the number of units in numbers and words. – The King Feb 29 '12 at 9:16
	The conventional rule in writing is that once a number passes two digits, we write it as Hindu-Arabic digits and not in words. But if a form requires you to write it in words, then I guess that's what you have to do. They probably want you to write it both ways as a double-check against errors: If the two agree, that's a good sign, if not, then one or the other or both are mistakes and they'll have to check back with you to correct it. – Jay Mar 27 '12 at 15:15

thursdaysgeek · Answer 3 · 2012-02-29 23:40:20Z

When you are writing the values on a check, say for $193.34, when writing it in words it is customarily done as:

One hundred ninety three and 34/100

Perhaps for your numbers you would use the same convention. For 1210.802, you would write:

One thousand two hundred ten and 802/1000

Barrie England · Answer 4 · 2012-02-29 09:07:13Z

up vote 1 down vote

Normally, you wouldn’t. In speech, you say the decimal point as ‘point’.

answered Feb 29 '12 at 9:07

Barrie England
78.9k487169

	I need to fill up a form wherein I have to mention the number of units in numbers and words. – The King Feb 29 '12 at 9:17
	@The King: You could write ‘one thousand, two hundred and ten and eight hundred and two thousandths units’, perhaps followed by the number in brackets, but it looks very odd. – Barrie England Feb 29 '12 at 10:03
	In the US, seeing those three "and"s in there might look strange. But he did say "fill up a form" so I assume he is not from the US. – GEdgar Mar 1 '12 at 1:41

4 Answers