Correct format when talking about money $$

Question

I'm writing a formal research paper (Highschool)

I have lots of statistics involving money (In fact, my whole essay is about the economy).

So a question arises about the format of writing money.

Would it be:

The company spent $4.5 billion dollars.

or simply

The company spent $4.5 billion.

Do I need to include the "dollars" at the end? Which one is more customary?

Thank you

$ and dollars are equal, hence you only need one, but the symbol would be easier for someone who is reading the paper.

Kate Sherwood · Answer 1 · 2011-06-03 00:52:26Z

up vote 6 down vote

Go with the second option. The first is redundant - you've got $ as a symbol AND as a word.

answered Jun 3 '11 at 0:52

Kate Sherwood
7,8031728

	yes, it reads "Four point five billion dollars dollars." – Lauren Ipsum Jun 3 '11 at 11:55
	Also an option is "four point five billion dollars" or "4.5 billion dollars" or "4,500,000 dollars." As a sidenote, at least in MLA format any number under 1,000 is written out using words and only over 1,000 is written in digits. Of course if this is a mathematical or scientific paper different rules apply. – justkt Jun 3 '11 at 12:20
	@justkt $4.5 billion would be $4,500,000,000 =P Yours says $4.5 million. – Ralph Gallagher Jun 3 '11 at 14:04

Chris Chilvers · Answer 2 · 2011-06-03 11:12:49Z

Depending on the context, you might wish to consider specifying which currency it is, eg

The company spent $4.5 billion (USD)

As there are many different dollars, and they all use the same $ symbol.

If that is the only currency used within the paper then you could state that the currency is US dollars at the start rather than for every amount.

2 Answers