[Forum] RE: hyphenation of fractions as adjectives

darn, had to give it a shot. :) i guess most conferences are during the week, now that I think about it.

[Forum] RE: Capitalization of Armies, battalions, and such

That is an interesting observation considering that CMOS in 8.159 says to capitalize the second element in fractions for headline-style titles. It gives the example of Ninety-Fifth Avenue Blues.

[Forum] RE: Inches in decimals or fractions?

Turns out that 49.2126 inches is exactly 125 centimeters. I suspect your author was translating from metric (for the sake of an American audience?) and didn't want to lose precision. I don't know what the context is, but I think I'd probably leave it alone.

[Forum] hyphenation of fractions as adjectives

I was given this to edit: one and one-half day conference. I know a whole number plus a fraction should be: 1 and 1/2 I also know that a compound adjective should be hyphenated. Would this be correct? 1-and-1/2-day conference Seems weird. What is correct?

[Forum] RE: hyphenation of fractions as adjectives

I'd just put "a one-and-a-half-day conference." I wouldn't use numerals, and I wouldn't use "one-half," as that seems way too formal.

[Forum] RE: Author says no commas, technically

Hmm. Contradictory or do the fractions/decimal points make a difference? My personal preference is to include commas in these types of measurements (including whole numbers) because I think doing so makes the sentence or entry easier to read.

[Forum] RE: Chicago Rule and Numbers in a science fiction novel

Technically, it would be "a one-hundred-thirty-million-dollar document." The use of "and" is reserved to indicate fractions, decimals, and similar numbers (so "one and a half years," "one and two-tenths of a liter," etc.). As part of dialog, however, most bets are off.

[Forum] RE: Fractions of a cent: "cent" or "cents"?

It's 0.8 cents and 1.3 cents, and no it doesn't make sense but that's the way it is. Spelling out "one" or not is a style issue—you decide—but when used in a range you'd probably want to use numerals.

[Forum] Formatting for fractions in text.

(A) "I ate three fifths of the apple pie." (B) "I ate 3/5 of the apple pie." (C) "I ate three-fifths of the apple pie." Is A, B, or C the correct option? Does CMOS have an answer someplace?

[Forum] re: Punctuation and units of measure

First, you'll want to use "stacked" fractions. Second, you should use hash marks, not close quotes, to indicate inches. Otherwise, it looks okay, although you could skip the hash marks and spell out inches ("Pipe guards of 3/4-, 2-, and 3/8-inch-thick material have been reported.").