The numbers on the phone pad start with 1 in the upper left corner, going down to 9 in the bottom right corner.
The numbers on a calculator start with 1 in the bottom left corn, going up to 9 in the top right corner.
For example, the top left number on a phone pad is 1. The top left number on a calculator is 7.
This difference makes it challenging to switch between the two. Why were they designed this way?
In: Engineering
Both layouts were a result of a need to increase efficiency/productivity in their respective industries.
The calculator layout was made for bookkeepers and found it increased their speed and efficiency.
The phone layout was made to decrease the amount of wrong numbers that were dialed by people using phones, as that layout appeared to be more easily understood by most people and re-directing calls made to the wrong number caused increased workload on phone operators.
Maybe I take for granted that I grew up with regular phones and texting with T9, but I never considered it would be challenging to switch between the two.
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