How do you say the number 101.722?

R

riglos

Senior Member
Argentina - Spanish
Hi all! I'd like to know how to write, in letters, the number 101.722. The thing is that I don't know where to put the "and"s. Is it the same in both USA and UK?

Thanks a million!

Mara.-
 
    • Formally, it's "One hundred one and seven hundred twenty-two thousandths".

    But informally, you'll quite often hear "one-oh-one point seven-two-two" (or "seven twenty-two").
     
    In Spanish, a period is used where Anglophones would use a comma. In other words, a comma is the sign of a decimal.

    So perhaps we are talking about One Hundred and One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Twenty-Two.
     
    Yes! That's exactly what I'm talking about! But why in capital letters?

    101,722 (when writing a cheque/check)

    Sorry for the misunderstanding,

    Mara.-
     
    If you were writing a cheque in most currencies you wouldn't go beyond two decimal places, so if it was Euro, you would write One hundred and one Euro, 72c
    In Ireland we only spell out the whole Euro. We began to do this sometime after we changed from £sd to £p - when we introduced decimal currency on 14th February 1970.
     
    riglos, that's a very big point ewhite just addressed. I'm embarrassed to say that this didn't even occur to me. And to answer your second question, writing checks out requires a certain format, at least here in the US.

    I have to admit that I've never written a check for the amount $101,722.00... You probably would have to write it out like this on the check:

    One hundred one thousand seven hundred twenty-two and 00/100 -----
     
    It is a separator for thousands, sorry. I've just explained it in my post above. Sorry again, it should have been a comma.

    Mara.-
     
    Extracts from above:

    This one is typically AE
    Boonognog: One hundred one thousand seven hundred twenty-two and 00/100 -----

    and this one BE
    panjandrum: One hundred and one thousand seven hundred and twenty two pounds only.

    Note that in AE "and" is not used between the thousands, tens and units. In AE the cents are written in numerals over a hundred, whereas in BE the "and" is used, and the pence doesn't get a mention if the value is zero.

    If the amonut included pence it would be added as "...pounds and fifty-two pence only". The pence rule is sometimes ignored and people write "...pounds and 52p only". A few people will omit the "only".

    Strictly speaking, all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine should be hyphenated when spelled out.

    One hundred and one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two pounds only (assuming the currency is GBP).
     
    It's important to remember that some countries use a comma for a decimal point, whereas some use a full stop. Also, in England (and, I don't doubt, other places) we insert a comma every three numbers back when the number is over a thousand - 10,000,000. Some countries (France, for example) just leave spaces - 10 000 000
     
    A90Six said:
    Extracts from above:

    This one is typically AE
    Boonognog: One hundred one thousand seven hundred twenty-two and 00/100 -----

    and this one BE
    panjandrum: One hundred and one thousand seven hundred and twenty two pounds only.

    Note that in AE "and" is not used between the thousands, tens and units. In AE the cents are written in numerals over a hundred, whereas in BE the "and" is used, and the pence doesn't get a mention if the value is zero.

    If the amonut included pence it would be added as "...pounds and fifty-two pence only". The pence rule is sometimes ignored and people write "...pounds and 52p only". A few people will omit the "only".

    Strictly speaking, all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine should be hyphenated when spelled out.

    One hundred and one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two pounds only (assuming the currency is GBP).
    Click to expand...

    Thanks A90SX! Your explanation was clear and thorough!! Now, I've been told that a comma is needed between the thousands and the hundreds when writing out the number. I agree with your British English version but I'm wondering what your proposed American English version would be. I'd also like to know if it's common to write "only" at the end of the amount on British cheques.

    Thanks a million!

    Mara.-
     
    I always write "only" on cheques, but someone once wrote me a cheque for "Fifteen pounds and not a penny more or she'll spend it on fags*"!!

    I would write "One hundred and one pounds and 72p only". Lots of people write the pennies in figures.

    *fags = colloquial BE for cigarettes (colloquial AE for homosexuals (pejorative))
     
    riglos said:
    Thanks A90SX! Your explanation was clear and thorough!! Now, I've been told that a comma is needed between the thousands and the hundreds when writing out the number. I agree with your British English version but I'm wondering what your proposed American English version would be. I'd also like to know if it's common to write "only" at the end of the amount on British cheques.

    Thanks a million!

    Mara.-
    Click to expand...
    Any time! The comma is not necessary when spelling out the numbers, but can be used in the same places as they would if written in figures.

    The commas are used when the number is written as figures (except for page numbers [1567] and year numbers [2006]) to make the number easier to read. 21,724,804 is much easier to read than 21704824.

    When spelled out, the comma does not make the number any easier to read, but can add emphasis by use of the pause.
     
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