English in Life Sciences

Transcription

1 English in Life Sciences Units and measures digits and numbers units and fractions precision Numbers 1

2 Numbers ,023 0 zero ( 0 C) nought (0.03) o (phone numbers) nil, nothing (10 to 0 in sport) 2

3 Read decimals aloud in English by pronouncing the decimal point as "point", then read each digit individually. Written Said 0.5 point five 0.25 point two five 0.73 point seven three 0.05 point zero five point six five two nine 2.95 two point nine five READING FRACTIONS Read fractions using the cardinal number for the numerator and the ordinal number for the denominator, making the ordinal number plural if the numerator is larger than 1. This applies to all numbers except for the number 2, which is read "half" when it is the denominator, and "halves" if there is more than one. Written Said 1/3 one third 3/4 three fourths 5/6 five sixths 1/2 one half 3/2 three halves 3

4 Partials Percentages are easy to read aloud in English. Just say the number and then add the word "percent". Written Pronounced 5% five percent 25% twenty-five percent 36.25% thirty-six point two five percent 100% one hundred percent 400% four hundred percent 4

5 Number notation Power notation Short scale American English and increasingly in British English 1,000, one million one million Long scale decreasingly used in British English 1,000,000, one billion a thousand million one milliard a thousand million 1,000,000,000, one trillion a thousand billion one billion a million million 1,000,000,000,000, one quadrillion a thousand trillion one billiard a thousand billion 1,000,000,000,000,000, one quintillion a thousand quadrillion one trillion a million billion 1,000,000,000,000,000,000, one sextillion a thousand quintillion one trilliard a thousand trillion DENOMINATIONS ABOVE ONE MILLION American System 1 British System 1 NAME VALUE IN POWERS OF TEN NUMBER OF ZEROS 2 NAME VALUE IN POWERS OF TEN NUMBER OF GROUPS OF THREE 0'S AFTER 1,000 NUMBER OF ZEROS 2 POWERS OF 1,000,000 billion milliard trillion billion quadrillion trillion quintillion quadrillion sextillion quintillion septillion sextillion octillion septillion nonillion octillion decillion nonillion undecillion decillion duodecillion undecillion tredecillion duodecillion quattuordecillion tredecillion quindecillion quattuordecillion sexdecillion quindecillion septendecillion sexdecillion octodecillion septendecillion novemdecillion octodecillion vigintillion novemdecillion centillion vigintillion centillion

6 The American system of numeration for denominations above one million was modeled on the French system but more recently the French system has been changed to correspond to the German and British systems. In the American system each of the denominations above 1,000 millions (the American billion) is 1,000 times the preceding one (one trillion = 1,000 billions; one quadrillion = 1,000 trillions). In the British system the first denomination above 1,000 millions (the British milliard) is 1,000 times the preceding one, but each of the denominations above 1,000 milliards (the British billion) is 1,000,000 times the preceding one (one trillion = 1,000,000 billions; one quadrillion = 1,000,000 trillions). When saying large numbers, do not make thousand, million, billion, trillion, etc. plural. Not this: *twenty thousands dollars; *five millions people But this: twenty thousand dollars; five million people 6

7 Numbers , Use the period as the decimal point, never a comma. Use numerals before and after a decimal point (not.25) 78.0 or 78 (not 78.) 7

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9 once twice How many times? thrice, three times in duplicate, in triplicate 1 solitary singular one-off 2 double twofold duplicate 3 triple threefold triplicate 4 quadruple fourfold 5 quintuple fivefold 6 sextuple sixfold 7 septuple sevenfold hundredfold single, double, triple quartet, quintet, sextet 9

10 0.002 two thousandths (mainly U.S.) point zero zero two point oh oh two nought point zero zero two three point one four one six 99.3 ninety-nine and three tenths (mainly U.S.) ninety-nine point three 10

11 100 and 0.01 (reciprocal) 10 2 (exponent, power 2, second power, to the.) 10 1/5 (root, fifth root of) 11

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16 Past Homework introduce a scientist listen to presentations on drug chemistry (Blaskovich) and answer questions prepare an abstract for paper on antibiotics New homework scientific equipment find names in English 16