Learn English – Hyphenating spelled-out fractions with large numerators and/or denominators

fractionshyphenationnumbers

I find myself in the awkward position of needing to systematically spell out fractions where the numerator, the denominator, or both have three or more digits, and I'm not sure about the hyphenation. For example, 124/145:

  • one-hundred-twenty-four one-hundred-forty-fifths?
  • one hundred twenty-four one hundred forty-fifths?
  • something else?

Best Answer

Can you use numbers at all? Could you write 124-145ths? Otherwise, I hate to say it, but stylistically, you should have a hyphen between the numerator and the denominator (rule 3 in the link). Also, it looks like you should use hyphens only with twenty-one to ninety-nine (Rule 7). So

One hundred twenty-four-one hundred forty-fifths

would presumably be the appropriate style, according to the Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation anyway.

Because you are using large numbers, maybe you could get away with an en dash instead of a hyphen, for clarity:

One hundred twenty-four–one hundred forty-fifths

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