Why is the Order of Keys Different on Phones and Calculators?

Ease of use, speed or some other factor like that What role might this play in the sequence of numbers? So, is one of these layouts useful while the other is useless?

Now to the reasons for this difference And let’s take a closer look at how long this order has continued like this.

In 1963, the telephone company Bell Systems launched the first push-button telephone after various research and tests.

The keypad of this phone was designed in the 4×3 format that we are familiar with today. The order of the calculator numbers was different from the check. In fact, there was no claim of perfection behind this design, and the company did not believe that the best choice had to be perfect.

For this reason, when Bell Systems first considered a new keypad design, decided to continue with the 4×3 format calculator layout that already existed. But when the company asked calculator manufacturers why they chose this design, none of them could give a reasonable answer.

The Sun Strand company first introduced this design of the calculator in 1914, and other manufacturers followed this design without giving it much thought.

However, after a while, Bell System company changed its decision. He rolled up his sleeves for a new design. This demand for change was not received very positively by some researchers.

The company’s demand for innovation for slowing down the keypad and recording numbers on the switchboard It was claimed that it was done deliberately.

Also at this point, another theory was about where the phone and calculator were located during the study.

Because calculators are usually placed on documents or papers and thus access to the most used one and zero keys at the bottom of this vehicle’s keypadit would be pretty easy.

While the calculator is on the documents, the phone is probably on the side with the handset on top. Therefore It would be reasonable to start the numbers directly from the top.

But Bell argued that this order in telephones and calculators was actually It depends on how our brain wants to translate numbers. discovered. He mobilized the company’s employees to test multiple and different keypad layouts.

As a result of this test, the keypad we are familiar with ranked 3rd and 4th in terms of speed and usability.

However, Bell Systems changed its decision again and gave up the idea of ​​innovation and, in addition to production-related reasons, Because he didn’t want to go beyond the ordinary for years, He decided that the 4×3 layout and this order were the most reasonable choice.

If so, why isn’t the standard calculator layout used on the phone keypad?

To resolve this question, the researchers gave testers an empty version of the 4×3 format and asked them, asked them to number the spaces from 1 to 9. Experts largely preferred the layout in the image above.

Also at that time there were letters in phone numbers and people This choice seemed quite logical when read from right to left.

In summary, it is not because the phone system we use now is the most useful or fastest, It is used because it is the most intuitive.

Other companies subsequently followed Bell Systems’ design and it was incorporated into more modern electronic systems, such as various safes and ATMs.

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