Phone Keypads and Calculators Number Their Rows Backwards
A keypad is a small set of buttons. Telephones and calculators arrange their digits in opposite directions.
A keypad is a small panel of keys. Look at a phone and a calculator side by side and the digits run opposite ways: a phone has 1-2-3 on the top row, a calculator has 7-8-9. Bell Labs tested layouts in the early 1960s and chose the phone arrangement for dialling speed, while calculators had already inherited theirs from adding machines.
- A small set of keys. *A numeric keypad.*
- An entry panel. *A security keypad.*
- Keyboard — the full set. *A wireless keyboard.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | keypad | A backlit keypad. |
| Plural | keypads | Two keypads. |
| Related | keyboard | A mechanical keyboard. |
| Related | key | A function key. |
| Related | numpad | The numpad. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Enter the code on the keypad.Access control.
- Phones and calculators differ.1 at the top or the bottom.
- QWERTY was designed for typewriters.And never replaced.
Keyboard layouts
- QWERTY — designed in the 1870s for mechanical typewriters
- AZERTY — the French variant
- QWERTZ — used in Germany and central Europe
- Dvorak — an alternative claimed to be faster, never widely adopted
- Phone keypad — chosen by Bell Labs testing in the early 1960s
A compound of *key* and *pad*. *Key* comes from Old English *cæg*, and its use for a button dates from early keyboard instruments.
Why do phones and calculators differ?
Calculators inherited their layout from adding machines. Bell Labs tested alternatives and found the reversed order better for dialling.
Why is QWERTY arranged that way?
It was designed for mechanical typewriters, partly to reduce jamming of frequently paired letters. It survived because everyone had learned it.