i was attempting to perform a rudimentary equation using a nearby calculator which was giving me erroneous results - the lcd panel was only showing the first 5 numbers, so i resorted to my mobile phone.
i instantly found the mobile phone much more difficult to use, and then, out of the blue, something i'd never noticed before.. the numbers on a calculator and mobile phone start in different places (1 top left on phone, 1 bottom left on calculator).
does anybody know why this is?
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Dr Lobster*
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Maybe something to do with numbers on touchtone telephones doubling up as letters, i.e. A/B/C for 1 or 2? But then logic presents the question, why are calculators the other way round? The answer is I do not know. I regret entering this problem.
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Nick Harvey
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This isn't going to answer the question, but might provide a little background.
Calculators have been 789 at the top right back to the first mechanical adding machines in the nineteen forties, or possibly earlier.
I think, but can't be certain, that it was something to do with the numbers higher up the machine having to push the cogs round further, so it was easier to assemble like that.
Push buttons on telephones came along much later, in the US at first, as far as I know.
So I shall take the view that the adding machines set the standard, then the telephone people failed to follow it!
Calculators have been 789 at the top right back to the first mechanical adding machines in the nineteen forties, or possibly earlier.
I think, but can't be certain, that it was something to do with the numbers higher up the machine having to push the cogs round further, so it was easier to assemble like that.
Push buttons on telephones came along much later, in the US at first, as far as I know.
So I shall take the view that the adding machines set the standard, then the telephone people failed to follow it!
