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I'm unsure if I should spell out numbers or not, in this specific case of the thesis:

This is the area I'm concerned with and I tried both approaches:

  • Setup 1 is a static setup with seven nodes in total, five Zigduinos and two OSGi. There are two publishers and five subscribers.

  • Setup 2 is a static setup with 13 nodes in total, 10 Zigduinos and 3 OSGi. There are 5 publishers and 10 subscribers

  • Setup 3 is a static setup with twenty-five nodes in total, twenty Zigduinos and five OSGi. There are 10 publishers and 20 subscribers

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  • possible duplicate of When to spell out numbers
    – Mari-Lou A
    Jun 6, 2015 at 12:14
  • Unfortunately, "When to spell out numbers" has itself been marked (wrongly, in my opinion) as a duplicate of Why do English writers avoid explicit numbers?—so any bounce to the former will itself bounce to the latter. Nowhere in all of this will you find a thorough and extensive comparison of different style guidelines governing when to spell out numbers, showing where they agree and where they differ. The obvious place to post such an answer would be in the (closed) Q&A that Mari-Lou A links to.
    – Sven Yargs
    Jun 8, 2015 at 5:10

1 Answer 1

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"Setup 1" and the like are used to label items and should be left this way. The rest depends on the house style and the genre of writing. Your looks like a report of some kind. The general rule is that numbers 1 to 9 are spelled, and everything over 9 is in digits. However, in creative writing, sometimes all numbers are spelled. As an aside, there are two full stops missing, and I'd consider representing this sorry of data as a table.

Setup 1 is a static setup with seven nodes in total, five Zigduinos and two OSGi. There are two publishers and five subscribers. Setup 2 is a static setup with 13 nodes in total, 10 Zigduinos and three OSGi. There are five publishers and 10 subscribers[FULL STOP] Setup 3 is a static setup with 25 nodes in total, 20 Zigduinos and five OSGi. There are 10 publishers and 20 subscribers[FULL STOP]

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  • So you would mix things like "20 Zigduinos and five OSGi"? Thanks!
    – Sven Akkermans
    May 30, 2015 at 9:28
  • Let me note that this "general rule" is not very general; it depends on the house style for publishers. It may be that numbers between 1 and 10 are spelled, or between 1 and 19.
    – Peter Shor
    May 30, 2015 at 10:05
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    Interesting! In my experience though, if we have to use digits in any particular sentence, we have to use digits for all similar cases within the same sentence. This would normally be considered far more important than whether we actually used digits or words in the first place. @PeterShor Might have a better idea about that point.
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    May 30, 2015 at 10:13
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    The Purdue Owl suggests a different criterion: spell out numbers that can be written with two or fewer words, like "eighty-seven" or *eleven million". It also says that numbers in series should be consistent (e.g., write "between five and eighty-seven" or "between 5 and 87").
    – Peter Shor
    May 30, 2015 at 10:29
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    On the other hand, the American Physical Society style guide says to write out numbers between 1 and 9, and to always write out numbers at the start of a sentence, even if similar numbers are written as numerals in the same sentence. They also say that if you have coordinate numbers, with some larger than 10, in the same sentence, you should write them all as numerals (again, "between 5 and 87").
    – Peter Shor
    May 30, 2015 at 10:36

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