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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

% or percent?

0Hello people,02br
02br
00I am writing an academic paper and present many results in percentages.02br
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00Is there any difference between writing it out as "percent" and just using the symbol for it?02br
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00For instance, shall write "60 percent of the population retire" or shall I write "60% of the population retire"?02br
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00When reading, I encountered that some authors write it out explicity at some places.02br
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00Apperantly I am missing a rule here.02br
02br
00Can you help? 0-
  

Top answer

0 Hi,02br 00I don't think there is a rule, it's a matter of style, in my opinion. 02br 00I'd write either 01b 0060%02b 00 or 01b 00sixty percent02b 00, I don't like 01b 0060 percent02b 00very much. That's how I would write it, but I think you can write it the way you want, according to "your style".

— Kooyeen

  • 0 Hi,02br 00I don't think there is a rule, it's a matter of style, in my opinion.
  • 02br 00I'd write either 01b 0060%02b 00 or 01b 00sixty percent02b 00, I don't like 01b 0060 percent02b 00very much.
  • That's how I would write it, but I think you can write it the way you want, according to "your style".
  • 050010id1
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14 Answers
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0 Hi,02br
00I don't think there is a rule, it's a matter of style, in my opinion. 02br
00I'd write either 01b0060%02b00 or 01b00sixty percent02b00, I don't like 01b0060 percent02b00very much. That's how I would write it, but I think you can write it the way you want, according to "your style". 05001
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Kooyeen12cite10I don't think there is a rule, it's a matter of style, in my opinion. 12br
12br
12blockquote
10Bingo! I know the AP style more than academic writing. 02br
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01i00Generally02i00, I write numbers under ten and use numerals over ten. General
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Quote: "So "five percent" in your paragraph, but 5% in your chart or table."

Question: Further to your explanation, how would you write it if the number was say 50 and in text not a table. Would you write it out as fifty percent or 50 percent?
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50 percent.

I just took the AP Stylebook from my shelf. It says to use figures for all percents, even those below 10.

1 percent of the population
115 percent increase
0.4 percent decrease
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According to APA 5th Edition, the symbol for percent can be used when it is preceded by a numeral. The example given is:

"found that 18% of the rats"
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AP style guide dictates the use of the word "percent" instead of the symbol, %. I'm not positive, but I think MLA does, too. If you're looking for which one looks best and more professional, I would definitely write out the word. I've written a number of academic papers and that is how I've done. I think it looks more proper that way, regardless of the style guide you are following. In the end, t
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According to the Associated Press Stylebook, it should be written as 60 percent. Numbers less than ten should be spelled out, 10 and above should be numerals unless they occur at the beginning of a sentence.

Academic writing generally follows the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines which are: "In nontechnical contexts, the word percent is generally used; in scientific
and stati
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Ah, but there is a rule. Only write out percent if alone or if the number that precedes it is the first word in a sentence (which means it will need to be written out, too). Because percentages will always be figures, you'll most often use the symbol for percent.

And please, for the love of all that's good, please don't use per cent (two words).
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percent is US usage but per cent is the correct usage in the UK
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I see, how about 150% in the first sentence written in US Style?
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