Jane is paying her bills using checks. The garbage bill is for $50.50. How should this be written out on the check?

• A. fifty and 50/100
• B. fifty and 30/100
• C. fifty and 5/100
• D. fifty and 0/100

Answer: (A)

When writing a check, you spell out the dollar amount in words and express the cents as a fraction with 100 in the denominator. For a total of fifty dollars and fifty cents, that means the dollars part is written as “fifty” and the cents part is “50/100.” So the correct way to write it is “fifty and 50/100.” The other options would represent different cent amounts: 30/100 is thirty cents, 5/100 is five cents, and 0/100 means there are no cents.