How frequent are numbers?

This study presents a distributional analysis of the frequency of use of numbers – numbers in words as well as numerals, between one and one hundred – on the world-wide web. The results show a regular pattern of declining frequency of use with increasing size of numbers. Breaks in the regularity of this pattern suggest that specific groups of numbers have particular functional characteristics in discourse. Different types of ‘round’ numbers are favoured and some numbers, such as geminated numerals (like 99), appear to have strong commercial appeal. Avenues for further research are suggested.