TEMPERATURE, ETC.
Figures are used to express temperature, specific gravity, and like technical matter.
122. The specific gravity of gold is 19.27. Its melting-point is 1947° F. (1064° C.)
The letters “th,” “st,” and “d” (“d” is preferable to “nd” or “rd”) should not be used with the number expressing the day of the month, except when preceding the name of the month:
123. We left on July 9, 1915.
123-1. We left on July 9.
123-2. We left on the 9th of July.
Many good writers would use “th” in No. 123-1, probably because it expresses the usual oral form of the date.
In printing consecutive numbers, like dates, numbers of pages, etc., certain omissions may be indicated by the dash; but the exact meaning of this and another mode of writing these numbers should be understood. Examples will illustrate this:
124. He was in England in 1914-15.
124-1. He spent the winter of 1914-15 in England.
125. Further information will be found on pages 25-27.
125-1. Further information will be found on pages 25, 26, 27.
125-2. Further information will be found elsewhere (pp. 25, 26) in this work.
125-3. Further information will be found on pages 25 to 40.
No. 124, strictly interpreted, means all of the two years indicated; but it may be an indefinite portion of the last of 1914 and a like portion of the first of 1915. In No. 124-1 the latter meaning is specifically given by the word winter.