Pronunciation and Spelling
Further information: Ordinal number (linguistics)When reading fractions, it is customary in English to pronounce the denominator using ordinal nomenclature, as in "fifths" for fractions with a 5 in the denominator. Thus, for 3/5, we would say "three fifths" and for 5/32, we would say "five thirty-seconds". This generally applies to whole number denominators greater than 2, though large denominators that are not powers of ten are often read using the cardinal number. Therefore, 1/123 might be read "one one hundred twenty-third" but is often read "one over one hundred twenty-three". In contrast, because one million is a power of ten, 1/1,000,000 is commonly read "one-millionth" or "one one-millionth".
The denominators 1, 2, and 4 are special cases. The fraction 3/1 may be read "three wholes". The fraction 3/2 is usually read "three-halves", but never "three seconds". The fraction 3/4 may be read either "three fourths" or "three-quarters". Furthermore, since most fractions are used grammatically as adjectives of a noun, the fractional modifier is hyphenated. This is evident in standard prose in which one might write about "every two-tenths of a mile", "the quarter-mile run", or the Three-Fifths Compromise. When the fraction's numerator is one, then the word "one" may be omitted, such as "every tenth of a second" or "during the final quarter of the year".
| Denominator | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in words | half (or halves) |
third(s) | fourth(s) or quarter(s) |
fifth(s) | sixth(s) | seventh(s) | eighth(s) | ninth(s) |
| Denominator | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 22 |
| in words | tenth(s) | eleventh(s) | twelfth(s) | thirteenth(s) | fourteenth(s) | fifteenth(s) | sixteenth(s) | twenty-second(s) |
| Denominator | 100 | 1,000 | 1,000,000 | |||||
| in words | hundredth(s) | thousandth(s) | millionth(s) |
Read more about this topic: Numerator (fraction)
Famous quotes containing the word spelling:
“As to spelling the very frequent word though with six letters instead of two, it is impossible to discuss it, as it is outside the range of common sanity. In comparison such a monstrosity as phlegm for flem is merely disgusting.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)