How to insert fractions in Word and Pages

Microsoft and Apple try to help you put the numbers in the correct place and have it look good, too.

- GLENN FLEISHMAN

Despite the existence of the metric system and an increased reliance in recent years on decimal fractions to write partial amounts (such as 2.5), we often find ourselves wanting to drop in a true fraction. We know that 2 or 3/4 looks snazzier than 1/2 and 3/4, like making sure you're using curly or typographer's quotation marks instead of straight typewriter ones.

But you can easily be stymied when typing in Microsoft Word or Apple's Pages: Not all fractions appear to be available. You can simulate them by using font styling to choose superscript (for the top number, or numerator) and subscript (for the bottom one, the divisor called the denominator), but then doesn't the slash look wrong?

There are two cascading issues:

> First, does your software identify when you're typing a fraction and convert it to something more compact and cleanly styled? 

> Second, does the typeface you're using include "drawn" fractions for the ones in question?

WHAT WORD AND PAGES CAN DO

Word only automatically substitutes a small subset of typed numbers with the "correct" fractions from a typeface: 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4.

Pages has a greater variety. In my testing and seemingly depending on the typeface, it will drop in all available fractions when the denominator is 2 up through 10 (from 1/2 to 9/10, say). So type 5/8, and you get the neat-looking 5/8. However, these fractions can vary in appearance, as Pages will show ones that are both using the design of the typeface and ones that look much more generic and are clearly pulled from another font.

What if you're using something that doesn't fit the auto-formatting options? Or what if you want something more precise? You can leap into a manual process using some shortcuts.

FORMAT WITH "FAKE" FRACTIONS