h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why are the number pads on telephones and calculators the opposite way round?

good question. I dunno. I'm putting this in here to find out, myself. that, and I have a hypothesis that it was because they were created by different people, or maybe in different places, but I actually have NO IDEA whatsoever. there you go!

I don't know for sure but perhaps one was created by a woman and the other by a man.

Let me explain my theory...consider a three level building. Apartment 1 is at the bottom...apartment 2 is in the middle...and apartment 3 is at the top. All are connected to a shared front foyer and door. Three buzzer buttons are placed outside the door. Logically, which would you push to call apartment 1?

I noticed that a woman will (logically) count from top to bottom, "Of course apartment 1 is the first (top) buzzer," says she.

A man will (logically) count from bottom to top, "Of course you push the bottom button to call the bottom apartment," says he.

Women are often prejudiced as "being on the phone alot" so their numbers are from top to bottom.

Men are often prejudiced as "being tech-minded" so their calculator pads are flipped so as to confuse their female counterparts into thinking that men are more tech-minded...

Myself being so "manly and tech-minded" I learned to use both...aren't you impressed with my testosterone?

I'm just about to demolish your theory. I'm a woman, and I would assume that the bottom button would be associated with the bottom apartment. In my experience, apartments and hotel rooms with the lowest numbers are on the lower floors, so this arrangement would strike me as logical. To remove any doubt, I would check the name next to the button, just to make sure.

I regularly work with both calculators and telephones, so I'm used to both. I hadn't even noticed the difference.

Final point. A year or so ago I was designing a user interface for a system that had a numeric keypad. I assumed it would be laid out like a calculator keypad, 'cos that's the way it was going to be used, so that's the way I laid it out. I double checked with the existing systems. They were all laid out like phone keypads. All the existing systems WERE DESIGNED BY MEN!!!

You go girl(he says whooping as if on the Ricki Lake show)
((Do you get that in England?If not no loss))

Simple answer

On old dial telephones (with loop disconnect dialling) the zero was encoded as ten, hence 0 comes after 9 on telephone keypads,
The calculator designers were logically consistant.

I have lived in a number of different buildings with the flat numbers numbered and lettered from top to bottom, bottom to top and one odd one with a seemingly random system that was actually numbered so that as you went up you started with one on the left, 2 on the right etc and then finished it off on the way down. It was very very odd.

They aren't in Norway (the place with the crinkly edges) as far as I remember

what if you use your compuet/modem as a telephone? - confused!!!!!

Ummm...oh I see...you forgot that sometimes there is some humor here...ha ha ha...that's very funny!

Your happy moniker seems to be misapplied. Don't go mad over it!

My theory is based on a true story (I lived in an apartment building with 3 apartments and kept getting buzzed by women I didn't know) and yours is based on one instance. Oh, well...so much for hypothetics.

Hey, I still love you!

As far as I can remember the reason is purely historical, like the difference between Imperial and Metric measures. Someone designed one, someone else designed the other. Nothing at all like the difference between men and women. (As far a designing a system without checking the interface...'nuff said.)

We do get the Ricki Lake show.

Please take it back with you.