The phrase "about equal number" is not correct in standard written English.
It can be used when attempting to describe a quantity that is nearly the same as another quantity, but it is better to use a more precise expression.
Example: "The two groups had an about equal number of participants, making the comparison fair."
Alternatives: "approximately equal number" or "roughly equal number".
They met an about equal number of ethnic Tuareg rebels, who may have been aided by jihadists.On May 21st the soldiers lobbed shells over the heads of African and French troops stationed at an international base.
When the group of 300 subjects was taken as a whole, the distribution of the difference score was approximately normal, indicating there was about equal number of higher ratings and lower ratings under each method.
Other uitlanders produced a counter-petition in which an about equal number affirmed their satisfaction with Kruger's government.
Under the present simulation settings, there are about equal number of subjects with Y = 1 and Y = 0. We simulate 200 replicates and show the summary statistics in Table 3.
Most of the paralogous pairs (~80%) are made by enzymes performing exactly the same reaction and the remaining fraction is formed by an about equal number of paralogous enzymes with no functional overlap (~10%) and of paralogous enzymes with a partial functional overlap (~10%).
About equal number was sent to all the 36 states of the federation including the federal capital territory Abuja.
About 64% were randomized, and with about equal numbers of those coming from industry (86) and university sponsors (85), and smaller numbers coming from hospitals (51) and other sponsors.
While there were about equal numbers of deaths in both groups, the aspirin users were older when they were tested, with an average age of 62 compared with 56 for the nonusers, and had more diagnosed heart disease.
Many people have dismissed this idea out of hand, but stop to consider the advantages: There are about equal numbers of men and women, yet fewer than one-sixth of elected representatives are women, even fewer in the executive offices.
Research by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. showed that although women and men say they want to be promoted in about equal numbers, women are 15% less likely than men to get promoted.
There were about equal numbers of sexually active girls across the tanner stages, heights and ages assessed.
