Text figures

In text figures, the shape and positioning of the numerals vary as those of lowercase letters do. In the most common scheme, 0 , 1 , and 2 are of x-height, having neither ascenders nor descenders; 6 and 8 have ascenders; and 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , and 9 have descenders.

Amusingly, as several later writers have noted, the printer Thomas Curson Hansard in his landmark textbook on printing Typographia describes the new fashion as 'preposterous', but the book was printed using lining figures and the modern typefaces he also criticised throughout.[6][13]

High-quality typesetting generally prefers text figures in body text: they integrate better with lowercase letters and small capitals, unlike runs of lining figures. Lining figures are called for in all-capitals settings (hence the alternative name titling figures ), and may work better in tables and spreadsheets.