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.