Numbers | NZ Digital government

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tabindex="-1">Numbers</h1> <p class="page-description">How to write numbers, currency, dates, times, and phone numbers.</p> </div> <h2><a id="numbers"></a>Numbers</h2><p>The Readability Guidelines include detailed guidelines on the following topics:</p><ul> <li>Use numerals instead of words for numbers.</li> <li>Choose clear typography.</li> <li>Be specific with data.</li> <li>Use a percent sign for percentages.</li> <li>Use ‘to’ for number ranges, not a hyphen or any other type of dash.</li> <li>Use a space before KB and MB.</li> </ul><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240508191846/https://readabilityguidelines.co.uk/grammar-points/numbers/">Numbers in the Readability Guidelines</a></p><h3>Cardinals and ordinals — 1, 2, 3 and first, second, third</h3><p>Cardinal numbers say how many of something there are, such as 1, 2, 3.</p><p>Ordinal numbers tell you the position of something, such as first, second, third.</p><p>How to write cardinals and ordinals:</p><ul> <li>Use numerals for cardinal numbers from 0 to 999,999.</li> <li>Use words for ordinal numbers from first to ninth.</li> </ul><div class="patternlib-example"><h4>Examples</h4><p>Cardinal numbers:</p><ul> <li>your child must start school by the age of 6</li> <li>there are 996,455 people.</li> </ul><p>Ordinal numbers:</p><ul> <li>the second referendum</li> <li>the 10th flag.</li> </ul></div><h3>Big numbers</h3><ul> <li>Use commas to separate thousands when the number is over 1,000.</li> <li>For numbers in the millions, use the word ‘million’ instead of writing out the number in full. However, for some content write the number in full, for example technical data.</li> </ul><h3>Headings are an exception</h3><p>If a heading starts with a number, write it as a word, unless it’s a year.</p><h2><a id="datesandtimes"></a>Dates and times</h2><ul> <li>Write dates as day, month, year in full.</li> <li>Do not use ordinal numbers, for example, 1st or 3rd, in dates.</li> <li>Show time using a 12-hour clock.</li> <li>Show start and end times in full.</li> <li>Use ‘midnight’ not ‘00:00’.</li> <li>Spell out the names of days and months in full.</li> </ul><p>Use ‘to’ instead of an en dash (–) in date and time ranges as it’s easier for screen readers to read out.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Examples</h3><ul> <li>12 December 2015</li> <li>12 noon, not 12pm</li> <li>5:30pm not 17:30hrs</li> <li>10am to 11am, not 10 to 11am</li> <li>Monday to Friday</li> <li>10 November to 21 December 2016</li> </ul></div><h2><a id="currency"></a>Currency</h2><p>Put the currency code and currency symbol before any monetary amounts.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Examples</h3><ul> <li>If you’re a United States citizen, you pay USD$640.</li> <li>If you’re an Australian citizen, it costs AUD$890.</li> <li>British citizens pay GBP£420.</li> <li>Japanese citizens pay JPY¥550.</li> </ul></div><h2><a id="phone"></a>Phone and fax numbers</h2><p>Always use freephone (rather than phone) for a freephone number (such as 0800, 0508).</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Example</h3><p>‘If you just need some medical advice, you can call a registered nurse on Healthline, freephone 0800 611 116.’</p></div><p>If it’s a New Zealand freephone, always put ‘(NZ only)’ after the number.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Example</h3><p>Freephone: 0800 611 116 (NZ only)</p></div><p>Use freefax rather than free fax.</p><p>Use cellphone, rather than cell-phone or cell phone.</p><p>Use TTY: as the label for any number that provides a text service for the deaf community.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Example</h3><p>TTY: 0800 111 113</p></div><p>Unless they’re used in the middle of a sentence, phone, freephone, email and website should always have a colon after them.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Examples</h3><p>Phone: +64 4 456 2390</p><p>Email: admin@zyxvw.co.nz</p></div><p>Do not use bullet points for contact details — they are not a ‘list’ so shouldn’t be marked up as one.</p><div class="patternlib-example"><h3>Examples</h3><p>Freephone: 0800 123 4547</p><p>Email: alpha@beta.com</p><p>Not:</p><ul> <li>Freephone: 0800 123 4547</li> <li>Email: alpha@beta.com</li> </ul></div><h3>Code for phone numbers</h3><p>To make your phone numbers clickable:</p><p><a href="tel:0044555555">+44 555 555</a></p><p>Write phone numbers with non-breaking spaces between the groups of numbers. A non-breaking space keeps the whole number on 1 line — in HTML it’s coded as ‘&nbsp;’. 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