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/97



An isolated vulgar fraction should be in words: $1⁄8$ or $1⁄32$ is insignificant, and is more readably presented as one eighth or one thirty-second.

The hyphen is not needed to join the words one eighth, or those of any similar fraction, when they are used alone, but it is needed when the fraction is used as a qualifier, as in one-eighth share.

Compounded fractions like eight thirty-seconds take the hyphen for the compounded numeral, because the hyphen is needed to show the closer relation of the two numbers to each other, as more clearly appears in forty-seven ninety-sixths.

The figures upon the en body provided by type-founders are insignificant in a line of capital letters. Newspapers prefer figures on the two-third-em body for their tabular work.

$1⁄8$&emsp;$1⁄4$&emsp;$3⁄8$&emsp;$5⁄8$&emsp;$3⁄4$&emsp;$7⁄8$&emsp;⅛&emsp;¼&emsp;⅜&emsp;½&emsp;⅝&emsp;¾&emsp;⅞

Fractions on the en body are quite indistinct in tabular work, for which fractions on the em body should be preferred. Piece-fractions on two bodies, each one half of the en body of the text type, are often required for vulgar fractions, but they are almost unreadable when cast for the smaller sizes. As these piece-fractions differ in size and cut from the solid fractions of the font, the two forms should not be used in the same table.