Numbers of days

Subject: Numbers of days
From: geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 13:19:35 -0500

Feeman Kevin asked <<How would you write: The test lab was
needed for three eight-hour days.>>

Well, the way you've got it now works just fine for me.
However, I work mostly in scientific editing, and the
standard there is to use numerals for measured quantities.
The result would be "three 8-hour days."

<<The SME suggest 3 8 hour days.>>

This is a risky practice in general because it's too easy
to misread this as a single two-digit number. In this case,
it's easy to figure out that this isn't the case (unless
you're talking about--say--day length on another planet),
but what about "2 4-hour days" or "1 88-hour week"? It's
easier to use the word for small counted quantities (most
style guides say "for numbers less than 10"), and rephrase
for larger quantities (e.g., "88 days, each of 8 hours").

--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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