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Re: Measurements: Fraction, Decimals, or Both

Subject: Re: Measurements: Fraction, Decimals, or Both
From: Lauren <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2016 12:59:12 -0700

It depends on the nature of the "home-product." If it is small, a liquid, like paint, or ingested, then use decimals and milligram measurements, similar to drug descriptions. https://www.drugs.com/dosage/xanax.html

If you are working with measured products that are larger or handled, like paper or fabric and even recipes, then use fractions, since that is what people are used to and fractions are easier to adjust for different sizes and quantities. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7518/carrot-and-walnut-cake/

On 10/7/2016 1:01 AM, wondersofone -at- gmail -dot- com wrote:

I can't make a decision. This is the first time I'm working heavily with
measurements. I'm writing home-product descriptions for nontechnical
customers. The descriptions will include measurements that I get from
multiple manufacturers. Each manufacturer writes it either in fractions or
decimals. My options are to just reflect how they write it or to pick one
method and do conversions to adhere to that one method I choose (convert
the fraction to decimal or vice versa). Pricision is not an issue.

Though, I am leaning towards using only decimals since I can't use
superscripting and subscripting to format fractions. So I could get
measurements like 5 1/4' x 11 3/4' x 1 1/8' that might annoy customers
because the numbers could seem to run into each other making it more
difficult to read.

I've also considered using hyphens between the mixed numbers, but am not
sure if that might cause other confusion when reading. E.g., 5-1/4' x
11-3/4' x 1-1/8'.

These types of measurements could appear in bulleted lists or in
narratives.

Anyone have an opinion one way or another? Or know of any "industry"
standards, unspoken rules, or no-nos about converting someone's
measurements?
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References:
Measurements: Fraction, Decimals, or Both: From: wondersofone -at- gmail -dot- com

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