"123" or "one, two, three"? Come and get the correct usage of numbers

51 Labor Day or May Day Labor Day?

When writing, we often struggle with the question of whether to choose Arabic numerals or Chinese numerals:

Should I use "123" or "one two three"

Or "One Two Three"?

What is the difference between "0" "zero" and "〇"?

What are the specific specifications for the use of numbers?

Numbers are everywhere in life and seem to be "casual" to use. However, for the two different forms of digital expression of Chinese character numbers and Arabic numerals, their expression functions, their use occasions are different, and how numbers should be used in formal Chinese publications, I am afraid that most people are still not familiar with the issue.

In modern social life, there are many occasions where numbers need to be used. ID number, student number, bank account number, telephone number, postal code, book number... There may be too many specific applications of numbers to make a complete list, but in summary, the main functions of numbers can be summarized into two: metering and numbering.

Corresponding to their expression function, there are two main forms of expression of numbers in Chinese text:

Chinese character numerical form: Chinese inherent writing form, the basic symbols are "zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand, million, billion" and so on.

Arabic numeral form: Since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, with the gradual study of the West and the East and the process of China's modernization, it has gradually been promoted in the Chinese, and the basic symbols are "0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9" and so on.

In practice, Arabic numerals can also use auxiliary symbols such as the decimal point ".", the multi-digit section break "," and the short line "-" and the separator ":" as needed. Numbers written in Kanji do not contain other auxiliary symbols.

It can be seen that there is a rough correspondence between the above two forms of expression of numbers and the main expression functions of numbers.

In situations where precise dosing and numbering functions are emphasized, Arabic numerals are preferred;

As a general word use and the occasion of expressing general numbers, it is preferable to use the kanji numerical form.

However, this division of labor is not absolute. On the one hand, Chinese character numbers also have the function of measurement and numbering. Before Arabic numerals entered China, Chinese were counted in their own Chinese character numeral writing, including calculations and numbering and sorting with numbers.

On the other hand, in the process of use of Arabic numerals, their expression function has gradually broadened, from the initial main use of precision measurement to a variety of numbering functions, and then developed to the expression of general numbers combined with Chinese character components.

In this way, it has created a situation in which the two can be exchanged in some cases. It is precisely for this reason that it is necessary to properly regulate the two forms of digital writing, as far as possible to correspond between different forms of expression and different expression functions, to achieve the goal of a clear division of labor between Chinese numerals and Arabic numerals, and to perform their respective duties, and to improve the efficiency of transmitting information Chinese text as a whole.

The code of digital usage can refer to the national standard "Digital Usage in Publications" (GB/T 15835-2011). The following excerpts and summaries some of these noteworthy usage specifications: when to use Arabic numerals, when to use Chinese numerals, and when to use both?

Use Arabic numerals

★ The number used for metering

Example: -125.03 34.05% 39 °C

Note: Arabic numerals should be used when numerical values are accompanied by a unit of measurement, especially when the unit of measure is expressed in letters.

★ Numbers used for numbering, such as phone numbers, postal codes, bus numbers, official documents/book numbers, road numbers, etc.

★ A trained word with Arabic numerals

Example: 4G mobile G8 Summit

Vitamin B12 No. 97 gasoline

Use Kanji numbers

★ Non-Gregorian calendar years

Example: October 15, 2012

★ Approximate numbers, the approximate numbers represented by the number concatenation, the approximate numbers containing "several", should be used Chinese character numbers.

Example: Three or four months, twenty or so

★ Words that have been stereotyped containing Chinese character numbers, and words that have been used in the Chinese language for a long time that have been stabilized to contain Chinese character numbers, should use Chinese character numbers.

Example: Five Lectures, Four Beauty, May Fourth Movement

"1.28" Incident "12.9" Movement

Both forms are available

★ If there are not many numbers required to express measurement or numbering, and there is no obvious difference between the conciseness of writing and the clarity of identification, both forms can be used.

Example: Building 17 (Building XVII) 3x (Triple) 1980s (1980s)

★ If you want to highlight the concise and eye-catching expression effect, you should use Arabic numerals; if you want to highlight the solemn and elegant expression effect, you should use Chinese numerals.

★ Numbers that appear on the same occasion should follow the principle of "same category and same form" to choose the writing form of the number. If both numbers represent the time of the year, month, and day, or if both numbers represent the number of the same level of heading in the article table of contents, the same form should be used.

Note: Situations where two adjacent Arabic numerals cause ambiguity should be avoided.

Example: 3 classes in the third year of high school Three classes in the third year of high school (not written as "high 33 classes")

★ Documents with legal effect, announcement documents or financial documents may use both Chinese numerals and Arabic numerals.

Example: The april 2008 insurance account settlement date interest rate is 1.5750 per 10,000 (0.015750%)

Form is for content, and digital form is no exception. When choosing a digital form in writing, the general principle is to choose the writing form of the number according to its expressive function (or purpose of expression). However, as noted above, although there is a general correspondence between the form and function of the numbers, there are still cases of crossover and interchangeability. Therefore, when concretely implementing the general principle of selecting the form of expression according to the function of expression, four more specific principles should be followed.

Coding efficiency principles

The main functions of numbers are metering and numbering. For both functions, high efficiency in information transfer is required. Therefore, when using numbers to measure and number, the more numbers need to be used, the more they should use Arabic numerals. Because when expressing the same numeric value, Arabic numerals are always shorter than the encoding of Chinese numeral forms.

Respect for traditional principles

Kanji numerals are symbols inherent in Chinese writing systems, and in Chinese texts, their history is much older than Arabic numerals. Therefore, there are many expression occasions, and it is customary to use Chinese character numbers. This is especially true when there is no emphasis on measurement. The use of Chinese character numerical forms can make the text as a whole better maintain the unified beauty of the Chinese character system. Under the premise of not affecting the efficiency of information transmission, the use of Chinese characters in digital writing form is a respect and inheritance of the long history and culture of the Han people.

The principle of ideographic clarity

When a numerical form appears in a specific context, it is always necessary to convey a certain ideographic message. If different numerical forms have different clarities in the ideogram, a clearer and more accurate form of the ideogram should be chosen according to the needs of the actual ideogram in the context. as:

"He's waiting for a 1 p.m. flight."

"He's waiting for a later flight."

The former sentence uses the Arabic numeral form "1", and the latter sentence uses the Chinese character numeral form "one". Obviously, the meaning of the previous sentence is clearer, and the latter sentence has the potential for ambiguity.

System consistency principle

This principle is mainly aimed at situations where both Arabic numerals and Chinese numerals can be used. For example, when referring to the year, the full number of expressions should be used in the text, such as "1978" or "1978", which all refer to the same year in the Common Era. In the same article, one of the forms should be chosen according to the needs of expression, and the two forms should not be arbitrarily exchanged.

For example, when expressing specific dates, there should be no mixed use of Chinese numeral forms and Arabic numeral forms, such as "October 1, 1978", which is a violation of the principle of system consistency. The system consistency principle should be written as "October 1, 1978" or "October 1, 1978".

In concrete practice, conflicts between different principles may arise. If this happens, there should be a more basic "meta-rule" to decide how to handle conflicts — the digital form that applies more principles than the one that clearly violates a principle.

In addition, the above principles can also help us better understand that the two forms of digital expression are sometimes not either-or, or they may be either a normative requirement.

Excerpt from Digital Usage in Publications:

Use of Arabic numerals

1. Multiple digits

For ease of reading, integers or decimals with more than four digits can be subsected in the form of thousands of skims or thousands of emptys:

Example: 92,300,000;

98 235 358.238 368

2. Numeric range

When expressing the range of values, a wave connection number "~" or a line connection number "-" can be used. If the additional signs or units of measure of the preceding and preceding values are the same, the additional signs or units of measurement of the previous value may be omitted without ambiguity.

Example: -36~-8°C 400-429 pages

10-100kg 12 500~ 20 000 yuan

900 million to 1.6 billion (not written as 900 million to 1.6 billion)

15%~30% (not written as 15~30%)

The use of Kanji numbers

1. Approximate Number

When two numbers are used together to indicate an approximate number, there is no need to distinguish between the two numbers and "separate them."

Example: One or twenty forty-five or six years old

2. Contains the proper name of the month and day

When a proper name containing a month and day is represented by a Kanji number, if it involves January, November, or December, the interval number "·" shall be used. Separate the numbers representing the month and day, and do not use the interval number when other months are involved.

Example: "1.28" Incident "12.9" Movement

International Workers' Day

3. Capitalized Chinese character numbers

On legal documents and financial instruments, the number should be recorded in the form of capital Chinese characters and numbers (zero, one, two, three, wanton, wu, lu, qi, 捌, jiu, shi, bai, qian, wan, billion).

Example: $39,148 (30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

4. "Zero" and "〇"

The Arabic numeral "0" has two chinese characters, "zero" and "〇". When a number is used as a meter, the Kanji for "0" is written as "zero"; when used as a number, the Kanji for "0" is written as "〇".

Example: The Kanji number form of "95.06" is "95.06"

The Kanji numeral form of "A.D. 2012 (year)" is "2012"

5. Arabic numerals are used simultaneously with Chinese numerals

If a value is large, the "ten thousand" and "billion" units in the value can use Chinese numerals, and the rest use Arabic numerals.

Example: The number of people in the 1982 census on the mainland was 1 billion and 8175 288

6. Integers one to ten, if they do not appear in a statistically significant set of numbers, can use Chinese characters.

Example: One Person Three Books Four Products Six Comments Read Ten Times Five Percentage Points

7. The approximations expressed in "many", "yu", "left and right", "up and down", "about", etc. are generally in Chinese characters. If a set of statistically and comparatively significant numbers appears in the text, including both precise numbers and divisors expressed in "excess", "remainder", etc., in order to indicate consistency in local examples, their divisors can also use Arabic numerals.

Example: The province allocated 19 million yuan from mobile financial resources to allocate more than 3,000 tons of steel and 1,400 tons of diesel for farmland water conservancy construction.

8. Citations indicate the number of editions, volumes, and pages, and generally use Arabic numerals, except that the ancient books should be consistent with the version on which they are based.

Example 1: Lenin: The New China, in The Complete Works of Lenin, Chinese 2nd Edition, vol. 22, p. 208, Beijing, People's Publishing House, 1990.

Example 2: Xu Shen: "Explaining Words in Speaking Texts", four series of books, volume 6, 9 pages.

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Source: Beijing News Media Research (Comprehensive Guangming Daily, Zhejiang Police College, etc.)