Jul 26, 2016

The Return of Part G

 Rules & Regs columns from September/October 2010 and July/August 2012 each tackled various sections of Part G, Standards Style Manual, of the Form and Style for ASTM Standards. However, Part G is so packed with information that we still haven't covered everything. Here's a final look at Part G, primarily focusing on the section on proper use of numerals.

Numerals are obviously an enormously important part of nearly any standard, so it is important to express them properly. Section G18 of Form and Style provides rules that will help standards writers to be consistent in their use of numerals. Here is a rundown of G18.

G18.1 begins the Numerals style section with a very basic rule: all figures and tables should be designated by arabic numerals, for example, Fig. 3 and Table 6.

G18.2 notes that numbers from one to twelve should generally be spelled out, although there are some exceptions to this rule:

G18.2.3 explains that the use of numerals is optional in cases in which the standard abbreviation or unit symbol of the expression following the number is not used, or if the expression has an abbreviation, such as year or ton. There are some exceptions to this rule:

Numerals should be used for all numbers exceeding 12, with the following exceptions:

G18.4 notes that, when using a number of more than four figures, spaces should be used rather than commas in text, illustrations and tables. For example, 1 234 567. In the case of a four-figure number, no space or comma should be used ("1234") except in tables when the number occurs in a column containing number of more than four figures.

Other sections of G18 that may answer occasional style questions include the following: