Percent, per cent, or %?

Rationalist

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Ten percent, ten per cent, 10 percent, or 10%?

I would prefer 10% – short, and easier on the eye.

Maintaining consistency might be a problem though – you could write “He scored 90% in his maths exam.” But I guess that wouldn’t work for this: “Fifty percent of a person’s genes are passed on to their child.” Would this much inconsistency be okay?

Should one try to keep it consistent with how it appears in a quotation they cite? What if two quotations cite it differently?
 

robjvargas

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I *think* you follow the text. If you type "ten" you type "percent". If you type "10" you type "%".

While I think "per cent" is accepted, I also think it's largely archaic. I don't think you're wrong to use it, but I wouldn't.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Percent if you're writing it out.

Never use a symbol as your first word. Otherwise, whatever works, but be consistent.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

lvae

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It depends on the audience. Where I work, using 'per cent' for all written communications is mandated. Maybe check a comparative publication and see what the convention is? But as others have said, it's probably percent and never %.

And in terms of numbers, I think the rule is one to ten is spelled out, but anything larger is numerical, i.e. five percent, 11 percent.