Write small numbers in word. Larger numbers (typically above 20) should be written as a number. For instance: “There are eleven participants in the survey. They earn on average 20,000 USD per annum”.

Mind the number of significant digits. Significant refers to meaningful or material. It is best to keep the number of significant digits at 3 or 4. This facilitates easy reading. For instance, don’t present the number 0.0076584739, but round it to 0.00766 or even better 0.77%. Another example: your statistical software reports and average income of 348724.4563 Euros per year. Don’t report the number like this. Why even bother reporting fractions of cents, which do not have any material meaning. Report 348,724 or – even beter – 348 thousand.

Include the measurement unit (if appropriate)? If this number refers to a unit of measurement such as gram, it is even better to write 7.66 mg.  

Mind the proper use of the decimal point. In English texts, your interest rate would be 8.5%, while in a Dutch (or other European text) it would be 8,5%. In a similar way, you would earn 20.000 Euro in mainland Europe but 20,000 GBP in the UK or the US.

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