Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/95

 Arabic figures should be selected to express degrees of heat (as in Temperature 71°) or specifications of gravity (as in Lead is 11.352), but words are better for degrees of inclination (as in At an angle of forty-five degrees).

Records of votes (as in 20 yeas to 41 nays), or of time in a race (as in One mile in 2 minutes 23 seconds), are made clearer by figures.

Numerals occasionally employed as qualifiers are neater in words (as in two-foot rule or ten-story building); but when a noun is frequently repeated on the same page, with different qualifiers, figures make the subject-matter more intelligible (as in 6point, 24-point, and 60-poiiit type). It is admitted, however, that the combination of figures and words in a compound is not sightly.

In ordinary writings all dates should be in arabic figures, but when they appear in legal documents words should be used. When the numerical day of the month precedes the month, it should appear as 10th April or 22d April. When it follows the month, the th or d is not required; it should be April 10 or April 22. When it is spelled out in a document, it should be in full, as the tenth day of April or the twenty-second day of April. Dates should be stated with system in every book. It is a fault to have April 17, 1762, on one page, and