Zero

Despite its insignificant value, the number zero is prone to significant uncertainty.

Recently, the biggest change is to use the numeral ‘0’ instead of the word ‘zero’ in most body text.

Style basics

Use the numeral ‘0’ rather than spelling out ‘zero’ unless it could be mistaken for a letter ‘O’

The car goes from 0 to 60 in 7 seconds.

In line with our advice for all numbers, we recommend using the numeral ‘0’ instead of spelling out the word in most cases. 

Our biggest shock was scoring 0 for customer satisfaction.
Our biggest shock was scoring zero for customer satisfaction.

The exceptions are where:

  • the word is part of a common expression
  • ‘zero’ is used as a verb meaning ‘to focus’
  • the numeral might be mistaken for the letter ‘O’.
In becoming a volunteer firefighter, he went from zero to hero overnight.
The research will zero in on the risk factors for prostate cancer.
In body text, there’s actually not much scope for the word in any case. You’re better off using a word like ‘no’ or ‘none’.
We had no responses so far to the 10 survey forms we sent.
We had 0 responses so far to the 10 survey forms we sent.
Decimal numbers

For decimals less than 1, always put a ‘0’ before the decimal point

Interest rates dropped by 0.25% after the Reserve Bank cut.
See also:   Cardinal numbers,  Decimal numbers,  Number formatting,  Numbers,  Words or numerals