Module 2B A World of Mystery We all know that numbers are an important part of our lives Now we are going to learn how to talk about numbers in charts, tables and graphs and how to differentiate the way we express decimals, fractions and percentages First, let’s give numbers their complete names: cardinal numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and so on; ordinal numbers: 1st (first), 2nd (second), 3rd (third), 4th (fourth), 67th (sixty-seventh), 95th (ninety-fifth) and so on; even numbers: the ones that can be divided by such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 12; odd numbers: the ones not divisible by 2, such as 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 27 When speaking of hundreds, thousands and millions, we have to remember that there is a difference between British and American English; for example, in British English you use the word and between hundreds and tens Thus, 759 is read: seven hundred and fifty-nine, 425 is read: four hundred and twenty-five, 1368 is read: one thousand, three hundred and sixty-eight In American English you don’t use the word and Another important difference is the word billion In British English, a billion used to be twelve zeros after the number, that is to say: 1,000,000,000,000 In many countries we say that a billion is ten to the power of twelve (1012) But now, due to business transactions and globalisation in general, it is very common to think of billions in the American usage, that is, ten to the power of nine (109), thus 12 billion is 12,000,000,000 In some cases, it is easier to understand numerical information if it is given in a graphic representation, as in: % $ a pie chart a bar graph a b a table Activities 1 Classify these numbers according to the categories given in the text a 8: cardinal e 1,000: b 3rd: f 100: c 2, 4, 6, 8: g 2,000,000: d 3, 7, 9, 11: 2 Use figures a Three hundred and four: b Twenty-two thousand, eight hundred and eleven: d Five thousand, seven hundred and sixteen: e Four hundred and thirteen: c Eight hundred and eighteen: English Toolkit - Business Administration Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 Numerical Data Module 2B 3 Give an example of a …an even number: b …an ordinal number: c …an odd number: d …a number to the power of nine: e …a number to the power of twelve: 4 Read the text and answer the questions a What kind of number representations are mentioned in the text? b How can you identify odd numbers? d What difference is there between English and American English when speaking of hundreds, thousands, millions and billions? 5 Write the number references in the sentences like in the example a I paid eleven dollars fifty cents for these sunglasses $11.50 b Thirty eight percent of the people said that they spend one third of the salaries on services c The office is comfortable; it is two metres wide and three metres long, that is, six square metres d Electric cars will be common by the year two thousand and twenty e The hotel room number was two-oh-eight; the first part of the number indicates the floor and the final part indicates the room 6 Read this information It is based on a survey about people who read the newspaper Then write the corresponding numbers and frequency in a graph Out of a hundred people interviewed about how often they read the newspaper: 25 answered ‘every day’ 10 answered ‘never’ 15 answered ‘sometimes’ 50 answered ‘on Sundays’ English Toolkit - Business Administration Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 c Which numbers indicate order?