AP Style Rules at a Glance
NUMERALS
In general: Spell out whole numbers below 10. Use Arabic numerals (figures) for 10 and above.
This applies to ordinal numbers, too: first, second, third, 10th, 22nd, 100th ... They had 10 dogs,
six cats and 97 fish. … The students visited 12 cities in four days. … The third test covered
sixth-century history. … She finished 15th in the class of 590.
Millions, billions: Avoid long strings of numbers; they’re hard to read and confusing. Use
1 million instead of 1,000,000 or 250 million instead of 250,000,000. Round to one decimal
place: $5.5 billion instead of $5,500,000,000.
Always use figures for: Act and scene numbers … Ages … Aircraft … Betting odds …
Channels (TV) … Chapters … Course numbers … Court decisions … Dates … Decades …
Dimensions … Highways … House numbers in addresses … Money … No. 1 (and similar
rankings) ... Page numbers … Percentages … Phone numbers … Ratios … Room numbers …
Serial numbers … Sizes … Speeds … Sports … Temperatures … Times … Vote tabulations …
Weights
Act and scene numbers: In Act 1 …; in Act 2, Scene 2, … But: the first act, the second act.
Ages: Smith, 23, … 3-year-old Bobby … 6-month-old puppy … She is 7 years old.
Aircraft, spacecraft: B-1 bomber … Apollo 15 … Boeing 747
Betting odds: He won despite 3-2 odds against him.
Channels (TV): WRIC, or Channel 8, is an ABC affiliate. WBBT goes by NBC 12. WTVR is
also called CBS 6.
Chapters: In his new novel, Chapter 1 opens with …; in Chapter 12 … But: the first chapter, the
12th chapter
Course numbers: Mass Communication 101 … History 403 …
Court decisions: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to …
Dates: Sept. 6 … May 12 … Dec. 25 … Don’t use ordinal numbers (such as June 5th).
Decades: To pluralize: the 1890s, the mid-1980s … To drop digits: the ’90s, Roaring ’20s
Dimensions: Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc.: He is 5 feet 6 inches tall. … The
6-foot-3-inch man … The car is 12 feet long and 5 feet wide. … The storm left 4 inches of snow.
Highway designations: Interstate 95 … U.S. Highway 250 … Route 1A …
House numbers in addresses: 901 W. Main St. … 5 Oakland Ave. … 18 E. Broad St.
Monetary units: $1.50; $19.99 … $7 (not $7.00; no ‘.00’ for exact amounts) … 5 cents (not 5¢)
… $1 million; $26.5 million; $412 billion
No. (as in a rank): Virginia Tech is ranked No. 1 ... The No. 2 team is ... The United States was
No. 3 ...
Page numbers: On Page 1 …; Page 18 says … Page 20A … One exception: It’s a Page One
story.
Percentages (no matter how small): 1 percent … 45 percent … 0.4 percent
Phone numbers: Use hyphens to connect segments: 804-828-2661; 800-555-2222
Ratios: The Republicans hold a 3-2 majority …
Room numbers: The meeting will be in Room 8. … In Room 114 …
Serial numbers: Use figures and capital letters: A1234567; BVV2W-42GHK-GM6H8
Sizes: Use figures but lowercase ‘size’: A size 9 shoe. She wears a size 6. He wears a size 42
long.
Speeds: 5 mph … 100 mph … 50 knots
Sports: They lost, 3-2. … He caught a 9-yard pass. … 5 under par
Temperatures (except zero): 5 degrees above zero … in the 80s … 9 degrees below zero;
minus 9 (not -9)
Times: at 6 a.m. (not 6:00 – no ‘:00’ on the hour) … after 11:20 p.m. … But: noon, midnight
(‘12 noon’ is redundant)
Vote tabulations: The School Board voted 6-3 to … If there are fewer than 1,000 votes on each
side, use: The House voted 230-205; a 230-205 vote. … If there are more than 1,000 votes on a
side, use: Henrico County favored Kaine over Kilgore, 49,170 to 41,619. … The 4th Ward voted
8,321 to 2,039 for the proposal.
Weights: The baby weighed just 2 pounds. … She had a 9-pound, 7-ounce boy. … The device
weighs only 1 ounce but could destroy a city block. … He added 5 grams of sulfate.
Ordinal numbers: General rule: Spell out ‘first’ through ‘ninth,’ then: 10th, 11th … That
applies to street names: First Street … Ninth Street … 10th Street, 11th Street, 22nd Street … 9
Second Ave., 440 45th St., 56 E. 21st St. … But there are exceptions:
Political divisions: 7th Congressional District … 3rd Ward … 12th House District
Court names: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals … 10th District Court … 5th Judicial Circuit of
Virginia
Military units: 1st Infantry Division … 80th Institutional Training Division … 7th Fleet
Military titles before a name: 1st Sgt. Grover Santone … Petty Officer 2nd Class Calvin
Winthrop … 2nd Lt. Janet Petry
Write out numbers: When the number is under 10 (unless an exception applies) … When
beginning a sentence: Twelve students were arrested. (One exception: It’s OK to start a sentence
with a year. … 2007 was the best year in VCU basketball history. … Recast sentences if
necessary. Avoid: One thousand three hundred and twenty-two students registered for VCU 101
last year. Instead, write: Last year, 1,322 students registered for VCU 101.
Big numbers: If you must spell out a large number, use a hyphen to connect a word ending in y
to another word; do not use commas to divide the words. … Twenty-one … Thirty-five … One
hundred forty-three … One thousand one hundred fifty-five … One million two hundred
seventy-six thousand five hundred eighty-seven …
Miscellaneous: Write out fractions: two-thirds, one-fourth, a fifth ... write out casual numbers:
It’s happened a million times.
Roman numerals: Use them with individuals (William Randolph Hearst III), popes & monarchs
(Henry VIII, Pope Paul XI) and wars (World War I, World War II). Don’t use commas to
separate Roman numerals from names.