The bill is $123.04. How should this be written out on the check?

• A. one hundred twenty-three and 40/100
• B. one hundred twenty-three and 4/1000
• C. one hundred twenty-three and 4/100
• D. one hundred twenty-three dollars and 4/100

Answer: (C)

Expressing money amounts in words uses the dollars as the whole part and the cents as a fraction of 100. The bill is 123 dollars and 4 cents, so in words you write "one hundred twenty-three and 4/100" to show 123 dollars and 4 cents. The 4/100 means four cents because there are 100 cents in a dollar. Writing 40/100 would imply forty cents, which is too much for 04. Writing 4/1000 would be 0.4 of a cent, which isn’t how cents are expressed. Some formats also include the word "dollars" after the words, as in "one hundred twenty-three dollars and 4/100", but the form given here is a common, accepted version.