Figures in business

FIGURES in BUSINESS

Objectives:

- use of figures and numbers appropriately in business

- make use of figures in oral and written presentation; graphs, statistics

Saying numbers correctly

A) 0 is pronounced:

- oh: - after a decimal point: 6.06 = six point oh six

- when dictating or indicating a telephone number: 0944532680 - oh nine double four five three two six eight oh

- a room number: 303: three oh three

- a bus number: 105 one oh five

- in years: 1909 nineteen oh nine; 2003: two thousand oh three (American); two thousand and three (British);

Nought: - when expressing a leading zero 0.001% - nought point oh one

Zero: - for the number zero: 0

- for temperature: 5 five degrees below zero

- Nil: - sports scores: Romania won the match two nil (2-0)

Love: - in tennis scores The score is thirty love after the break.

B) The decimal point

Point, not comma is used for decimals in English. Comma is used for writing thousands, but computers do not use it. When reading, all the figures after a decimal are pronounced separately:

- 10.33 - ten point three three (double three) but NEVER ten thirty three

- 0.25 nought point two five

- 10.002 ten point, oh oh, (double oh) two

- 10,002 ten thousand and two

Units of money are read like this:

- $5.25 = five dollars twenty five. (when doing business, pronounce each figure separately, carefully)

- 0.250 nought point two five oh

C) When dealing with rates, in percentage, bear in mind the following reading

- 0.3% - one third of one percent

- 0.25% - a quarter of a percentage point

D) Hundreds, Thousands and Millions

- British English: 225 - two hundred and twenty five

- American English: 225 - two hundred twenty five; 1,999: one thousand nine hundred ninety nine

year 1999: nineteen ninety nine

year 2000: two thousand

year 2005: two thousand and five

year 2010: two thousand and ten or, twenty ten

1,000,000: million, or ten to the power six (10⁶ )

1,000,000,000: a billion or ten to the power nine (10⁹)

E) Squares, Cubes and Roots

5² five squared

5³ five cubed

the square root of 5

F) Fractions

Fractions are usually similar to ordinal numbers: a half, a fifth, a quarter, 2/3 two thirds, 3/4 three quarters

G) Foreign currency

1. How many lei-s are there to the dollar?

2. How many Euros shall we get per dollar?

3. The current rate is 35,000 lei to the dollar.

H) Numeric adjectives

Numbers can be used as adjectives before a noun:

1. A fifteen-minute meeting but NEVER a fifteen minutes meeting.

2. A twenty-dollar allowance, but NEVER a twenty dollars allowance.

I) Mathematical symbols and expressions:

1. 2+5=7 two plus five equals seven

2. 8-3 eight minus three

3. 7x6 seven times six

4. 12:3 twelve divided by three

5. A>B A is more than B; A is greater than B

6. A<B A is less than B; A is smaller than B

7. A ≥B = A is more or equal than B

8. A ≤B = A is less or equal to B

9. 30 % = thirty per cent

10. A≈B approximately equal to

11. A B = plus or minus

12. A x B= multiplied by/times(or, when giving dimensions, by)

13. x² = x squared

14. x³= x cubed

15. x ⁴= x to the power of four/five, etc

J) Approximation is expressed by:

- nearly: nearly eight thousand pounds for each year;

- just under/over: just under the previous figure;

- approximately: the rise was approximately equal to the one expected;

- coming/ going up/down to: the trend is coming down to;

- roughly: its entry price level was roughly 1 million dollars;

- more or less: ..the fall was more or less of ten pounds;

- well over/under: the price raise was under the one predicted by specialists last year.

K) Rates and ratios are expressed:

- population density per (unit): ten items in one hundred were

L) When presenting trends, some specific expressions are used:

upward movement:

- a rise: a significant rise has occurred in;

- an increase: an incredible increase in real estate prices;

- a climb/jump: a dramatic jump of the expenditures;

- go up: the prices went up substantially last year.

downward movement:

- a fall: .. a dramatic fall in consumers goods sales;

- a drop: a sudden drop in cars sales;

- a decline: an important decline is noticed in book sales lately;

- decrease: business sector has decreased gradually.

M) Other ways of expressing tendencies and trends of different economic phenomena:

- to level out/off: the prices leveled out this year;

- to remain stable: sales level remained stable for the whole year;

- to fluctuate: the export level fluctuated the last years;

- to reach/come to a peak: the Japanese car industry reached its peak in 1995.

N) Specific prepositions:

- productivity raised from 50% to 75%

- productivity fell from 60% to 40%

- the salaries in budgetary sectors stayed /stood/remained at the same level

- a basic salary increase of minimum 37,5%

- productivity rose by three percent

O) The extent of change is indicated through certain specific vocabulary:

- fractionally/marginally/slightly/a little lower/higher

- somewhat lower/higher

-considerably/substantially/a great deal/noticeably/far lower/much lower/dramatically/lower/higher

- grow - dramatically/sharply/rapidly

- grow gradual/steady fall

P) Contrast is also expressed specifically:

- although/despite/in spite of/whereas/however/nevertheless/

- phrases like: in contrast (to); while ;against; compared to; in comparison (to) on the other hand; on the contrary.

R) Similarity is shown using: - like/ alike/ the same/is similar to/ neither nor/ similarly

S) Describing size and dimensions

a.     It is 6 meters wide and 12 meters long.

b.     It is 6 meters by 12 meters.

c.      It is square/rectangular/round

d.     It is L-shaped.

e.      Its like an H.

f.       It has a seating capacity of sixty

g.     It can take up to sixty people.

I Read the following aloud:

1. 0. 02 per cent only! Incredible!

2. Room service, for 609, please!

3. I'm shivering! It must be less than 10 degrees below 0.

4. My favorite team won 1-0.

5. My grandmother was born in 1909.

6. We shall get the 209 bus to reach to the zoo.

7. Write down my telephone number: 0945306558.

8. The score has already reached 15-0 for our tennis team.

9. How much did the dollar raise? 5.04 percent.

10. 0 is the first natural figure in mathematics.

II. Read aloud and write the following:

1. The exchange rate has raised 3.233 per cent.

2. The difference is hardly over 0.02 per cent.

3. The price is around 20.50 in sterling.

4. Repeat, please, 0.25 or 0.025?

5. The dollar rose to 3.595 lei.

6. I said 12.002, not 12,002.

III. Dictate and write:

1. Say it clearly, once again, 2,000,000,000 or 2,000,000?

2. The leu rate of exchange has become more stable in 2004.

3. The denomination of $ banknotes are 1; 2; 5; 10; 20; 50; 500; 10,000.

4. The divisions of the $ are silver coins of 1¢ and 5¢ (nickel), 10¢ (dime); 25¢

(quarter); 50¢ (half a dollar).

IV. Calculate and read aloud:

5. =; =

V. The following text includes measurements in feet and inches, which are still used when talking about the peoples height in some English-speaking countries. However, it is easy to calculate the equivalent height in meters.

1 foot () = 30 cm 1 inch () =2.5 cm

5 feet = 5x30 cm = 1.5 m 6 inch = 6x2.5 = 15 cm

So five feet six (56) = 1.5 m + 15 cm, which is 1.65 m

VI. Look at the way numbers and figures are used in the dialogues. Compare the spoken form with the written form on the right.

'That'll be thirty-seven pounds twenty, please'  (£37.20)

'Room four oh eight.' (408)

'Two hundred divided by one point four equals one hundred and forty-two pounds eighty-six' (200:1.4=£142.86)

' less two pounds commission comes to one hundred and forty pounds eighty-six pence' (- £2.00 = £140.86)

VII. Read these amounts to a partner and get them to make the final calculation:

1. £2.50+£4.15 =

2. 10% of $150 =

3. 5 x £14 =

4. £206 + £2,324 =

5. $16.95 x 2 =

VIII. How quickly can you find the answer to this sum?

Five add three, divide by four, subtract one, multiply by six, take away five, three times, plus eleven, minus four, halved, equals what?

IX. Give an example of each item below:

an odd number

a three-figure sum

four consecutive numbers

a multiple of 17

an even number

a fraction

a number with three digits after the decimal point

an equation

X. Write a short paragraph about the beliefs and superstitions you know about numbers.

After having revised the main ways of using figures in written and oral English for business, let us have a look on how to use them when having a business presentation to make possible a correct decision-taking process.

X. Describe the following graphs:

a) b) c)

..d)  e) f)

XI. Name the following types of graphs:

1. column chart; 2. pie chart; 3. stacked chart; 4. doughnut chart; 5. bar chart.

a)  

b)

c)

d)

e)

XII. Read the following introduction text describing the development of ATM use and its future growth. Look at the graph and complete its description.

More ATMs

Between 1998 and 2004 world automatic teller machine (ATM) installations were predicted to rise by 45% according to Retail Banking Research. The growth began immediately after 1975 and

500

400

XV. Translate into English:

A. Agentia de turism JInfo Tours a inregistrat in aceasta vara o crestere cu peste 3o% a numarului de clienti fata de perioada similara a anului trecut, fiind estimata o cifra de afaceri pentru acest an, de aproximativ 11 milioane de dolari, superioara cu 30% incasarilor din 2001. In perioada mai-septembrie, aceasta agentie a avut in total 12.000 de clienti, dintre care peste 8.000 au fost turisti romani, 1.500 au fost straini, iar restul este reprezentat de participantii la diverse congrese si conferinte internationale. Cele mai importante cresteri ale numarului de clienti au fost inregistrate la plecarile in strainatate si la sectorul de business. Destinatia preferata a turistilor romani care si-au petrecut concediile in strainatate a fost in acest an Spania, motiv pentru care agentia a organizat curse charter in colaborare cu operatorul SpainAir.

B. Principala forta a Ordinului Templierilor ramaneau afacerile monetare. Intrucat dispuneau de sedii intarite si puternice forte de aparare intr-o epoca de arbitrar si nesiguranta, templierii ofereau clientelei, in care se includeau si capete incoronate, locuri de siguranta destinate depozitarii banilor si obiectelor pretioase, convoaie puternic escortate pentru transportarea valorilor, ascunzatori in care se puteau face depuneri tainice.

Avand la dispozitie resurse imense, templierii erau in masura sa acorde imprumuturi care, din punct de vedere valoric, nu isi aveau egal pe atunci. Amanuntele operatiunilor au ramas invaluite de mister si nu se cunosc prea multe despre termene si dobanzi. Dar este stiut faptul ca ordinul s-a ocupat, intre altele, de finantarea celor mai importante actiuni intreprinse in acele vremuri - cruciadele. Astfel, au fost facute transferuri de aur dispuse de suverani pontifi, mari avansuri acordate regelui Ludovic al VII-lea pentru a porni spre locurile sfinte; mai tarziu au fost platite soldele trupelor trimise acolo de Ludovic al IX-lea; alt client important, cu ocazia cruciadelor, era faimosul rege britanic Richard Inima de Leu.