Academic Writing for International Students of Business

1 The language of numbers

In introductions, numbers are often used to give an accurate account of a situation:

Women account for fewer than 2% of Fortune 500 CEOs, 14% of Fortune 500 directors, and

8% and 5% of board directors and top managers, respectively, of the biggest west European

companies.

Figuresand numbersare both used to talk about statistical data in a general sense:

Thefigures/numbers in the report need to be read critically.

But number is used more widely:

She forgot her mobile phone number.

Digitsare individual numbers:

4,539 – a four-digit number

Both fractions(^1 ⁄ 2 ) and decimals(0.975) may be used.

There is no final ‘s’ on hundred/thousand/million used with whole numbers:

Six millionpeople live there.

Numbers

UNIT

3.6

Business and Economics students need to be able to write about statistical data

clearly and accurately. This unit explains and practises the basic language of

numbers and percentages, while presenting data in charts and tables is dealt with in

Unit 2.14 Visual Information.