Word Names for Numbers
Introduction
Knowing the word names for numbers is one of the first things you learn in math (when you are very young you learn to count, for example). However, as you get older, and deal with bigger numbers, it can be tricky to keep track of how to write and say numbers. Knowing the rules and the patterns for word names is actually quite simple and will help you be able to describe numbers to people.
Terms
Lesson
Word names for numbers follow a particular set of rules. The numbers 0-9 are all unique, so you will just need to learn them:
| Digit | Word Name |
|---|---|
| 0 | Zero |
| 1 | One |
| 2 | Two |
| 3 | Three |
| 4 | Four |
| 5 | Five |
| 6 | Six |
| 7 | Seven |
| 8 | Eight |
| 9 | Nine |
Similarly, the numbers 10-19 are also unique, although they do start to follow a pattern after 12.
| Digit | Word Name |
|---|---|
| 10 | Ten |
| 11 | Eleven |
| 12 | Twelve |
| 13 | Thirteen |
| 14 | Fourteen |
| 15 | Fifteen |
| 16 | Sixteen |
| 17 | Seventeen |
| 18 | Eighteen |
| 19 | Nineteen |
From 20 onwards, the numbers fall into a regular, repeating pattern. The rule for naming numbers 20-99 is:
Tens-ones
The tens names usually follow the rule of digit+ty (for example sixty, seventy, eighty).
Therefore, we can work out any number between 20 and 99. For example, 68 is sixty-eight.
Once we get to three digit numbers, the same rules apply, except you add the number of hundreds on first, making the number:
Number of hundreds, tens, ones.
E.g. three-hundred and forty-one (341) six-hundred and eighty-nine (689)
The names for numbers work in threes. If you can write hundreds, tens, and ones, then you can write all numbers. As you write higher numbers, you just need to put an additional word on the end of the set of three numbers to show how high you are going. If you are writing a six digit number, the first three digits end in thousands. For example, 123,000 is one-hundred and twenty-three thousand. If you are writing a nine digit number, the first three digits end in million. For example: 456,000,000 is four-hundred and fifty-six million. You can follow this pattern as high as you need to go (billion, trillion etc.)
For example:
987,654,321 is nine-hundred and eighty-seven million, six-hundred and fifty-four thousand, three hundred and twenty-one.
Because this is often long-winded, most of the time big numbers are written in digits. However, knowing how to write these numbers means you'll be able to say them, which is useful in explaining numbers to people.