Numbers & Maths Vocabulary Quiz
Can you say large numbers, read fractions and understand percentages in English? Test your knowledge of cardinal and ordinal numbers, mathematical operations and quantitative language across 20 multiple-choice questions.
Start the Quiz →What This Quiz Covers
Numbers and mathematical language are essential for everyday English — giving phone numbers, reading prices, understanding statistics in news articles, following exam instructions and describing data in IELTS Writing Task 1. Despite being foundational vocabulary, numbers cause regular errors, especially with large numbers, ordinals and fractions.
This quiz covers: cardinal numbers from 1 to one billion; ordinal numbers (first through to twentieth, plus larger ordinals); fractions (one third, three quarters, five eighths); percentages (expressed as words and read aloud); basic mathematical operations (plus, minus, times, divided by, equals, squared, cubed, square root); decimal numbers (point, nought point five); large numbers (thousand, million, billion, trillion) and how to read them; British vs American differences (billion, nought/zero); and number-related collocations (double, triple, halve, round up/down).
What You Will Learn
- How to read and write cardinal numbers in words from 1 to 1,000,000,000 — including the tricky teens (thirteen vs thirty) and the hundreds–thousands boundary.
- The formation and pronunciation of ordinal numbers: first, second, third, and the regular -th pattern from fourth onwards, plus the irregular forms to memorise.
- How to say fractions correctly: numerator + ordinal denominator, with special cases for halves (a half) and quarters (a quarter). Plural denominators when numerator > 1: two thirds, three quarters.
- How to describe mathematical operations in English for use in academic writing, IELTS Writing Task 1 data description, and classroom or workplace communication.
- British English conventions: nought for zero; reading decimals as point nought five; large number differences between British and American English (the old British billion = one million million is now standardised to the American billion = one thousand million).
How to Prepare
Before the quiz, practise saying numbers aloud — the most common errors come from the spoken form, not the written form. Pay particular attention to: thirteen/thirty, fourteen/forty, fifteen/fifty pattern pairs; the ordinal forms first/second/third which are completely irregular; and fraction formation. For practical application, IELTS Writing Task 1 requires you to describe charts and graphs using precise quantitative language — the IELTS Writing Task 2 Quiz and the general All Tenses Quiz complement numbers vocabulary for a complete academic English foundation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Cardinal numbers are counting numbers that describe quantity: one, two, three, four, twenty, one hundred. They answer the question "how many?". Ordinal numbers describe position or order in a sequence: first, second, third, fourth, twentieth, one hundredth. They answer "which one?" or "in what position?". Most ordinals are formed by adding -th to the cardinal number: four → fourth, six → sixth, ten → tenth. The first three are completely irregular: one → first, two → second, three → third. Fifth, eighth, ninth and twelfth also have irregular forms.
Fractions use the cardinal number for the numerator (top) and the ordinal number for the denominator (bottom). When the numerator is greater than 1, the denominator takes a plural -s: one third, two thirds, three quarters, five sixths, seven eighths. Special cases: ½ = a half (not "a second"), ¼ = a quarter (not "a fourth" — though "a fourth" is used in American English). For complex fractions, the word "over" is often used informally: seven over sixteen. In academic and scientific writing, write fractions as words in text: approximately one third of participants…
For numbers in the thousands, say the thousands first then the hundreds: 2,500 = two thousand five hundred. For millions: 3,400,000 = three million four hundred thousand. Note: do not add -s to thousand, million, billion or trillion when followed by more numbers — only add -s when they stand alone as nouns: thousands of people but three thousand people. For years: before 2000, say them as two pairs of digits — 1987 = nineteen eighty-seven. From 2000 onwards: 2000 = two thousand, 2024 = twenty twenty-four. In British English, and is used after hundreds: 312 = three hundred and twelve; in American English the and is often omitted.
Percentages: simply say the number followed by per cent: 45% = forty-five per cent. In American English, percent is written as one word. Decimals: say each digit after the decimal point individually, using the word point: 3.14 = three point one four. For numbers less than 1, British English uses nought point: 0.5 = nought point five; American English uses zero point: zero point five. In informal speech, oh is often used for zero: 0.75 = oh point seven five. In scientific writing, 3.5 × 10⁶ is read as three point five times ten to the sixth (power).
Addition: plus, add, and — 3 + 4 = three plus four / three and four. Subtraction: minus, subtract, take away — 10 − 3 = ten minus three. Multiplication: times, multiplied by — 6 × 4 = six times four. Division: divided by, over — 20 ÷ 4 = twenty divided by four. Equals: equals, is, makes — = seven / makes seven. Powers: squared (²), cubed (³), to the power of — 5² = five squared, 2⁴ = two to the power of four. Roots: square root of, cube root of — √9 = the square root of nine is three.
Historically, British English used the long scale where billion = one million million (10¹²). American English has always used the short scale where billion = one thousand million (10⁹). Today, the short scale has been adopted as the international standard in British English too, particularly in finance, science and journalism. So in modern British English, billion = 1,000,000,000 — the same as in American English. The old British meaning is now considered archaic. This change became standard in UK government and media use from the 1970s onward.
Phone numbers: read each digit individually, pausing between groups: 0207 456 1234 = oh two oh seven, four five six, one two three four. Double digits may be said together: 44 = double four. Dates (British): day + month + year — 15 June 2026 = the fifteenth of June twenty twenty-six. Dates (American): month + day + year — June 15, 2026 = June fifteenth, twenty twenty-six. Times: 3:00 = three o'clock; 3:15 = quarter past three (UK) / three fifteen (US); 3:30 = half past three (UK) / three thirty (US); 3:45 = quarter to four (UK) / three forty-five (US).
All four words represent the number 0 but are used in different contexts. Nought is the standard British English mathematical term: nought point five. Zero is used in scientific and international contexts, temperatures (below zero), and is the American English default. Nil is used in sports scores in British English: two–nil (2–0). Oh is informal, used when reading digits in phone numbers, flight numbers, codes and years: Room 204 = Room two oh four. In American English, zero is used for sports scores and most other contexts where British English would use nil or nought.
IELTS Writing Task 1 requires describing data from charts, graphs or tables, which involves extensive use of quantitative language. Key number vocabulary for Task 1: approximately, roughly, around, just over/under, nearly, exactly, precisely (to qualify figures); double, triple, halve (to describe proportional change); a quarter, a third, two-thirds, three quarters (fractions for proportions); per cent, percentage, proportion, fraction; rise, fall, increase, decrease (by specific amounts). Expressing data accurately without copying numbers directly from the question is essential for Task Achievement and Lexical Resource scores.
Common confusion areas: the teen-ten pairs — thirteen/thirty, fourteen/forty, fifteen/fifty, sixteen/sixty — which sound similar and cause listening errors; ordinal irregulars — first, second, third, fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth; saying a hundred vs one hundred (both correct in British English, but one hundred is more formal); the irregular fraction a half and a quarter (not a second / a fourth in British English); and the difference between percent (adjective/adverb following a number) and percentage (noun standing alone: a high percentage vs 45 per cent).