Here's the first reference that I found: http://esl.about.com/library/beginnercourse/bl_beginner_course_numberbasic.h... I didn't look further than that and the wiki page. For what it's worth, I like the so-called American style, both because I'm used to it and because it seems cleaner to me. When writing out lists of items, on the other hand, I have a preference for using the "Oxford Comma", also known as the "Harvard Comma". For instance, I will write: I like apples, bananas, and oranges. (The comma before the "and" is the one in question.) The reason I like it is because it most closely matches the pauses I insert when speaking aloud. It also avoid some ambiguous cases. Tom Dan Asimov writes:

I was taught the same thing.

But Wikipedia is a very unreliable reference when it comes to proper word usage. In fact it is almost universally agreed by experts (unfortunately) that either method is correct in the U.S. It's generally considered an issue of style rather than correct spelling.

--Dan

<< I was taught not to use "and" in the integer portion of a number when spelling it out, nor to use commas. A quick web check confirmed you should not use "and" for American spelling, but that you should use it for the hundreds portion in British spelling. Example: "seven hundred twenty-seven" (American) vs. "seven hundred and twenty-seven" (British).

Here's a reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Number...

...

...

Sometimes the brain has a mind of its own.

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