inclusive numbers

Thursday, January 8, 2009

OH MY GOD THIS IS SOOOOO BORING--but it has to be done, so when you feel like driving an iron spike through your brain (hint: enter through something squishy, like your eye or nose!), just glance over at the adorable kittens until you're ready to resume.

Ready?

Let's do this.

Inclusive numbers are used to indicate a range of numbers, such as a range of years or the pages of a book. This range is typically indicated by the word "to" or a hyphen or en dash, all three mean, "up to and including":

• World War II spanned from 1939 to 1945
• Read chapters 3-7 for homework
• On a scale of 1-10, I'd give her Shaunna's mom a [expletive deleted]
  

Believe it or not, there are rules for when to use "to" and when to use a hyphen or en dash. If the numbers are used after the words "from" or "between," you're not supposed to use a hyphen or en dash, so:

• From 6:00 to 7:30 I waited not From 6:00-7:30 I waited
• The project was between 60 and 80 percent complete not The project was between 60-80 percent complete
• But Carrie's mom is somewhere between a slap on the [expletive deleted] and my tongue over her [expletive deleted] not But Carrie's mom is somewhere between a slap on the [expletive deleted]-tongue over her [expletive deleted].
  

Oftentimes you can omit a few of the numbers, too. Like if you're talking about a range of years in the 20th century, instead of writing out "1920-1975" you can write it as "1920-75." Because the years in our range both begin with "19," you can drop (or, as the style guide will say, "elide") that second 19.

Unfortunately, there's a bunch of rules regarding omissions, too.

For one, you can't omit numbers when there's only two digits. So you can't write, "Read pages 24 to 6"; you have to write, "Read pages 24 to 26."

You also can't omit numbers when the first number ends in 00: "300-309" is correct; "300-09" is not...and neither is "300-9."

Finally, you can't omit the tens digit from the latter number. I have no idea how to explain this, so I'll just use an example:

• 123-26 not 123-6
• 5,000,792-97 not 5,000,792-7
  

However, you're supposed to omit the tens digit when it's 0. So "302-6" is right; "302-06" is wrong.

That's about it. If you haven't already killed yourself, enjoy another adorable kitten: