The Numeral

Standard form Read (the word name)

0 zero, nought
* before a decimal point: zero or nought
0.7 zero point seven or nought point seven
* after a decimal point: oh
0.005 nought point oh oh five
* in telephone, fax, bank account, car
registration, chapter, bus, room, etc. numbers:
oh oh seven oh six, three oh double five, four oh
0706 3055 404 (telephon) four,
Room 707 Room seven oh seven
1905 (year) nineteen oh five
* temperature count – down zero
5 oC
–5oC
five degrees above zero
0 oC five degrees below zero
zero degrees Celsius (or zero degrees
centigrade)
* game scores: nil (football)
5–0 five goals to nil; five-nil
love(tennis)
0–15 love – fifteen

5,000 five thousand (not thousands)

7,952 seven thousand, nine hundred (and) fifty-two

100,000 a (one) hundred thousand

1,000,000 a (one) million
2,000,000 two million or two millions
5,763,821 five million, seven hundred (and) sixty-three thousand, eight hundred and twenty-one

304,700,009 three hundred and four million, seven hundred thousand and
nine
1,000,000,000 a (one) billion or a (one) milliard (it is largely superseded by
billion)
208,615,061,753 two hundred and eight billion, six hundred and fifteen million,
sixty-one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three.
987,653,219,836 Nine hundred and eighty-seven billion, six hundred and fifty-
three million, two hundred and nineteen thousand, eight
hundred and thirty-six
25,673,210,040,385,86 twenty-five quadrillion, six hundred and seventy-three trillion,
1 two hundred and ten billion, forty millions, three hundred and
eighty-five thousand, eight hundred and sixty-one
N.B. several thousand books; a few hundred items;
But: hundreds of units; thousands of flowers; tens of trees; millions
of stars
(Americans do not use an “and” between the hundreds and tens)
 Exercise 1. Match the word name with the number in standard form:
1. five hundred and sixty thousand, and five; a) 56,045
2. fifty-six thousand, and forty-five; b) 5,000,005,005
3. five millions, forty thousand, and fifty c) 560,005
4. five billions, five thousand, and five 5,040,050

Exercise 2. Write each number in standard form:

a) five thousand, three hundred and eighty-four;
twelve thousand and twenty-five;
twenty-six thousand, four hundred and eleven;
four hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred and eighty-six;
b) twenty five million, one hundred and eighty-five thousand, nine hundred;
two hundred and four million, five hundred thousand, and three;
one hundred and sixty-two million, three hundred and forty-five thousand, and fifty-eight;
forty-two million, nineteen thousand, nine hundred and fifty-seven;
c) four billion, two hundred and fifty million;
one hundred and five billion, six hundred and ten million, forty-two thousand, five
hundred;
thirty-three billion, seven hundred million, ninety thousand and six;
eight hundred and fifty-six billion, seventy-three million, two hundred and twenty-nine
thousand, one hundred and eighty-five.

Exercise 3. Read each number:

a) 2,439 48,267 268,037 120,004 341,752
b) 64,853,019 407,090,006 342,697,188;
c) 7,198,406,000 3,006,509,128
48,217,046,350 115,609,378,056

Standard form Read (the word name)

1st the first
2nd the second
3rd the third
5th the fifth
8th the eighth
9th the ninth
12th the twelfth
20th the twentieth
23rd the twenty-third
30th the thirtieth
40th the fortieth
50th the fiftieth
 100th the (one) hundredth
101st the hundredth and first
300th the three hundredth
519th the five hundred and nineteenth
1,000th the (one) thousandth
2,358th the two thousand, three hundred and fifty-eighth
5,032,252nd the five million, thirty-two thousand, two hundred and fifty
second
January, the 1st
(on) the first of January
(on) January the first
1
2 a half
1
2 km half a kilometre
1
2 h half an hour
1
2 d half the distance
1
1 km2 a (one) kilometer and a half
1
12 h an hour and a half
1
3 h 2 three hours and a half
1
3 a (one) third
1
4 a (one) fourth / a quarter
2
3 two thirds
4
7 four sevenths
1
3 ton a (one) third of a ton
5
8 inch five eighths of an inch
1
23 two and a third
1
two and a quarter metres
2 m 4
two metres and a quarter

Exercise 1. Give the word name of the following:

a) ordinals: (the) 503; 2018; 301; 7,318; 22; 88; 709; 111,111,111,111.
1 1 3 115 7 1 1 1
b) fractions: 17 ; 101 ; 500 ; 113 ; 7 8 ; 105 3 ; 200 4 ; 715 2 .

Exercise 2. Read the following dates:

25th April, 1904; 1st February, 2000; 18th June, 2015; 2nd May, 1999; 30th September, 1800;
31st August, 1007.
 Exercise 3.
a) Read each of the following as a mixed number:
10 9 7 11 105 2 ,018 3 ,000
3 ; 2 ; 4 ; 5 ; 103 ; 2 ,015 ; 2 ,000 .

Standard form Read (the word name)

0.1 nought point one / a tenths
0.125 nought point one twofive
0.001 nought point oh oh one / a thousandths
5.44 five point four four
3.14159 three point one four one five nine
9.83 nine point eight three
0.5 cm nought point five of a centimetre
0.25 ton nought point two five of a ton
5.7 cm five point seven centimetres
12.85 one two point eight five tons / twelve point eight five tons

b) Multiplicative numerals – an amount multiplied by …;

adjectival: double, threefold, fourfold, fivefold, etc. (threefold of that price);
adverbial: twice, three times / threefold, four times / fourfold, a hundred times (twice two
is four).
Distributive numerals – distributing an (one) by one; by twos; by threes; (they went by
twos).
Adverbial numerals of recurrence – frequency of an action:
once; twice (two times); three times; five times a week; etc.

Exercise 1. Match the standard numbers with the word names:

1) 0.05 a) nought point three seven
2) 1.055 b) nought point five
3) 0.5 c) one point oh oh five
4) 0.15 d) one point one four five
5) 1.145 e) nought pointoh five
6) 0.375 f) nought point one five
7) 1.005 g) one point oh five five

Exercise 2. Write the standard form:

eight tenths; three and one tenths; fifteen and nine tenths; sixteen hundredths; six and four
hundredths; two and four hundred and six thousandths; nine and sixty three thousandths.

Exercise 3. Say it in English:

0.4 0.009 2.005 41.309
 5.85 0.428 5.07 15.981
11.28 1.51117 3.016 23.723

Symbol (Possible) translations into words

+ add; plus; increased by; added to; sum of; more than; and
n, x,
a number; some number; the number of.
or any other variable
= equals; is; is equal to.
1 + 3 = 3 + 1 =4 The order in which numbers are added does not change
the sum. (Communicative or order property).
(4+5)+6=4+(5+6)=15 The way in which numbers are grouped does not change
the sum. (Grouping or associative property)
n + (-n) = 0 Any number n and its opposite –n have a sum of 0. (Inverse property of addition)

–n + n = 0
5+0=5 The sum of any number and 0 is that number. (Zero or
0+8=8 identity property)
–2 Negative two / minus two

Symbol (Possible) translations into words

– subtract; deduct; minus; decreased by; subtracted from; difference;
less than;
> is greater than;
< is less than;
≈ is about;
n–0=n when 0 is subtracted from a number, the difference is that number;
n–n=0 when a number is subtracted from itself, the difference is 0;
8>7 eight is greater than seven;
10 < 20 ten is less than twenty.

Symbol (Possible) translations into words

x multiply; times; multiplied by; twice; product of;
2 x 3 = 3x 2 The order in which numbers are multiplied does not
change the product;
(2 x3) x 4 = 2 x (3 x 4) The way in which numbers are grouped does not change
the product;
2 x 1 =2 The product of any number and 1 is that number;
2x1=3
2x0=0 The product of any number and 0 is 0;
3x0=0
a c ac The product of two fractions is equal to the product of
x =
b d bd their numerators over the product of their denominators;
 2 x (– 3) = –6 If two numbers have different sings, then their product is
negative;
–2 x (– 3) = 6 The product of two negative numbers is positive;
√ ab=√ ax √ b
Symbol (Possible) translation into words
: divide; divided by; divided; into; quotient; over; per;
5:5=1 the quotient of any number divided by itself is 1;
103 : 103 =1
7:1=7 the quotient of any number divided by 1 is that number;
58 : 1 = 58
0:n=0 0 divided by any number is 0;
n:0=? dividing any number by 0 is meaning less;
16 : 4 = 4 if two numbers have the same sing, then their quotient is
– 16 : (– 4) = 4 positive;
– 16 : 4 = – 4 if two numbers have the different sing, then their quotient
16 : (– 4) = – 4 is negative;
a c a d to find the quotient of any two fractions means to invert
: = ×
b d b c the divisor and to multiply the fractions.

Exercise 1. Match the standard forms with the translation:

a) 52 + 20 =72 1) The sum of two halves is one.
b) x + 12 = 99 2) Nought point three five added to a third equals some
number n.
1 1 3) A number x increased by twelve is ninety-nine.
+ =1
c) 2 2
d) 0.5 +1.8 =2.3 4) Nought point five plus one point eight is two point
three.
1 5) Twenty added to fifty-two equals seventy-two.
+0 . 35=n
e) 3
f) 10 + (–5) =5 6) Negative five added to ten is five.

Exercise 2. Translate into symbols:

nine more than a number x;
a number n increased by two;
three added to eighty;
the sum of five and some number b;
fifteen more than the sum of ten and twelve;
eleven plus one hundred;
ten and nine equals nineteen;
 a number increased by four equals twenty;
twenty-five more than a number is one hundred and fifty.

Exercise 3. Match numbers with the translations:

1 1 a) five hundred and nineteen subtracted from six
5 −2
1) 7 9 hundred and twenty eight;
2) 64.504 – 31.263 b) five and a seventh minus two and a nineth
3) 5,196 – 3,087 c) five thousand one hundred and ninety six
decreased by three thousand and eighty-seven;
4) 628 – 519 d) thirty-one point two six three less than sixty-
four point five oh four;
5) 37,614 – 12,837 e) twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty seven
deducted from thirty seven thousand six hundred
and fourteen;
6) 0.321 – 31.263 f) thirty-one point two six three subtracted from
nought point three two one.

Exercise 4. Translate into symbols:

From four subtract a number n;
Five less than some number n;
Ten minus two;
Six subtract from a number x;
Fifteen less than a number a;
Thirty –three decreased by three;
From one hundred subtract a number z;
Ten minus number x is less than six;
Nine subtracted from eighteen equals nine.

Exercise 5. Match the symbols with the translations:

1) three times a number b a) 5b
2) the product of two numbers b) 3b
3) Ten minus twice a number b c) 8 + 2b
4) five times a number b d) 10 – 2b
5) the sum of eight and twice some number b e) 4(b – 1)
6) four times the difference when one is subtracted from b f) ab

Exercise 6. Translate onto symbols:

1) Twice a number b;
2) from three times a number c subtract four;
 3) eight multiplied by seven;
4) thirty times a number a;
5) the product of five and a number n;
6) the product of two numbers a and b, plus seven;
7) four times the difference when one is subtracted from n;
8) twelve subtracted from twice a number a number is less thirty.

Exercise 7. Match the translations with the symbols:

n
1) twelve divided by three;
a) 3 ;
x
2) six divided by the sum of some s and nine;
b) 2 > 40;
3) a number divided by two is more than forty; c) 12 : 3;
4) eight divided by three is less than the sum of one and a 2x
number b; d) 12 = 3
8
5) some number n over three;
e) 3 < 1 + b
6
6) twelve is twice x’s divided by three;
f) s+9

Exercise 8. Translate into symbol:

1) A number x divided by eight is ten;
2) The quotient of sixteen divided by the sum of two and six is two;
3) Fourteen divided by twice a number x is seven;
4) Two hundred divided by five is forty;
5) Seven minus twice x divided by three;
6) Four times a number y divided by two;
7) Forty point eight divided by twelve equals a number x.