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Serious question involving ergonomics of keypads....

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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
I'm just back from a skiing trip to italy and we had a heated argument at the bar that was sparked by the following problem:

Why are the numbers on a computer/calculator keypad listed like:

789
456
123
0

and on a cellphone the other way around?
like this:

123
456
789
0

NSers, i turn to your united intellect to answer this question for me!

thanks in advance!

Serious/good answers will be rewarded with +k and maybe even other goodies !

-Fred
Jan 3 2011 7:58AM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
on a celphone the letters are like abc def ghi etc so its logical that the numbers are 1 at abc, 2 at def, etc
otherwise is would be 0 abc, 9 def
that just doesnt sound logical does it? :)

and at the computer is it like that because chinese people read like that and they make the most computer things and shit
Jan 3 2011 8:02AM
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Gameboy
Posts: 2657 - Karma: 126
The most logic form is the one that is on the computer keyboard. 123 at the bottom (like a calculator). But since cellphones uses the number keys as letter jeys also, they're set the other way. The alphabet starts on the 2 and finishes on the 9. It's more logic then to put the numbers 123 on top so you can read the alphabet from top to bottom.
Jan 3 2011 8:06AM
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Gameboy
Posts: 2657 - Karma: 126
wat

swear to god I didn't read your reply before posting. We're soulmates dude :)
Jan 3 2011 8:07AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
the letters start at number 2(abc) 3(def)
etc.
so there's imo no reason why they shouldn't just flip the numbers around and assign like
7(abc)8(def)9(ghi)
6(jkl) ..........
Jan 3 2011 8:25AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
also why does it make more sense to read the alphabet from left upper corner to bottom right corner
then doing the same with numbers?

why is it different on a computer ?
Jan 3 2011 8:27AM
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Static
Posts: 8491 - Karma: 4,050
qwerty keyboard layouts were designed to slow the typer down so the typewriter doesn't jam, we really should switch to some space age speed keyboard design....
Jan 3 2011 8:34AM
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Gameboy
Posts: 2657 - Karma: 126
because we read from left to right and from top to bottom.
Jan 3 2011 8:45AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
yes, ok but why do we read/type numbers like
789
456
123

?

dont we learn to count like 123456789
so why start typing the numbers from bottom to top ?

you get my point ?
Jan 3 2011 8:51AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
also on the first portable phones there werent any letters

yet still they decided to number from top to bottom while computers number from bottom to top...
Jan 3 2011 8:55AM
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maximiliaan
Posts: 7710 - Karma: 2,849
stop it
Jan 3 2011 8:56AM
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=^]
Posts: 231 - Karma: 13
why not
Jan 3 2011 8:58AM
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2_fadez
Posts: 7780 - Karma: 4,180
computers are meant for accounting or cqlculati g wjen applied on a keyboard. therefore the most commonly used numbers (0,1,2,3) are placed closest to the enter button for quick calculating. this is the same on a calculator.
Jan 3 2011 10:45AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
i don't think we use the numbers 1-2-3 significantly more then 7-8-9 ....

Jan 3 2011 10:51AM
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Lemuel
Posts: 14477 - Karma: 10,515
A cellphone is small, thus you use one finger at a time to type the numbers.

When you are doing calculations on a computer, you are using your entire had and doing it fast usually, thus ........ wait a minute, that doesn't solve this fuuuuuuu
Jan 3 2011 11:01AM
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Lemuel
Posts: 14477 - Karma: 10,515
This is what I was trying to get at haha.
Jan 3 2011 11:05AM
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Gameboy
Posts: 2657 - Karma: 126
You're driving me crazy haha. This is way harder than it looks :(
Jan 3 2011 12:34PM
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pomme-de-terre
Posts: 3915 - Karma: 703
penis.
Jan 3 2011 12:37PM
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1337
Posts: 31038 - Karma: 29,003

Jan 3 2011 12:40PM
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SkiThe603
Posts: 5376 - Karma: 498
they are made that way to confuse people, but no seriously if it was all the same way life would be so much easier
Jan 3 2011 12:41PM
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