Spell out numbers or use numerals when in a list?

Question

So we often get the general advice that we should spell out small numbers and use numerals for large numbers. However, what if you are referring to a list of a few numbers, some large and some small. Switching between numerals and spelt-out numbers. For example, consider the following

I repeated the experiment five times using five, eight, 10, 20 and 100 mice.

This just looks awkward. Would,

I repeated the experiment five times using 5, 8, 10, 20 and 100 mice,

be better?

Weather Vane · Accepted Answer

The second is fine – there is no need to be dogmatic.
I use whatever I think will be clearest, such as '3 three-legged mice'.
If I wrote '3 3-legged mice' it could be misread as '33-legged mice'
and writing 'three three-legged mice' looks very odd.

Spell out numbers or use numerals when in a list?

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