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24/7 (“twenty four-seven”)

Hello!

Here is an excellent question received from a viewer.  Because we did not have your email address, we could not respond to you personally via email. However, there’s a bright side to that because we will answer your question on the blog for all to see!

The question was:  “Shouldn’t it me 24:7 and not 24/7?” The question is about how we write this expression, “twenty-four (24) seven (7)”.

First, let’s review what this representation represents, for those who don’t know: It refers to twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. We can also say twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week.

The expression 24/7 is the way we write “twenty-four seven”. The forward slash / is commonly used to indicate “per”. Thus, we abbreviate “twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week” as “24/7”.

To us, 24:7 is a ratio or a division problem: 24 divided by 7.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for your question.

The ESL Help Desk!

3 Comments

  1. Eugene

    Not only that, but using the 24-hour clock to tell time results in times such as 08:30 and 23:55. There is no such hour designation as 24:07 but to use a colon would invite confusion! The forward slash is better.

  2. ESL Help! Desk

    Good point. Thank you.

  3. MELCHY

    NICE

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