ID:275567
 May 14 2004, 3:02 pm
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Ever notice that on a calculator, the four is always drawn with the verticle and horizontal lines connected, but on the LED, it doesn't connect them?
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May 14 2004, 3:21 pm
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Kunark
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Go clean your room... It's something a little stimulating to your brain and muscles to do :P :)
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Basic LCD or LED displays do not have diagonal line capability... Some of the more complex ones do, but those usually used in calculators and clocks only have vertical and horizontal lines... These lines are arranged in the "8" pattern (look at a calculator or clock displaying the number 8 to see what I mean), and a combination of lit and unlit segments of that single layout are used to create all other numbers and characters...
Now, why is the 4 drawn differently on the button? Well, that's just the way 4's are most commonly drawn... Heck, the 4 in most computer fonts (including this one) is that way... So for the button, that's what they use... It's just that their display can't match it... Now, they could have the display show the 4 with a horizontal line across the top of the open space, but then it's look too much like a 9... Incidentally, I personally never write the number 4 with an angled line... I always draw them like the LED/LCD displays show them... I also detest that stupid little line some people draw across their 7's, and I'm not particularly fond of 2's written with that little loop at the bottom corner...lol | |
For a guy who refuses to type without dozens of ellipses every few words, you're remarkably intolerant about handwriting. =P
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SuperSaiyanGokuX babbled:
I also detest that stupid little line some people draw across their 7's, Depending on where you come from and how you were taught to write numerals, that's the only way you distinguish between 1's and 7's. For example, over here in Germany, I notice that ones look very much like sevens because of the way they are taught to draw the little line at the top of the one. | |
SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
and I'm not particularly fond of 2's written with that little loop at the bottom corner Whats the problem with that, it is a lot easier and more of a flow to write the 2 like that than it is to do it without curving the bottom. Sure its not much of a change, but it feel s better than suddenly stopping and changing directions. | |
I can accept that case, and my apologies go to anyone who has a legitimate reason to write them that way... But everyone I've ever seen writing 7's like that (which really hasn't been a lot of people, by the way...but enough to bother me when it happens) had no reason to be doing it...
It always seemed to me to be some sort of pretentious act... A useless embellishment to somehow make their 7's look different and more "refined"... And what bothered me further was that if you're going to be doing that, then why not add little lines and curls and such to all of the other numerals? No one I've seen using those little 7-lines ever did anything else to the other numbers they wrote... So then, what are they doing it for, if only done on the 7, and for no apparent practical reason? (I.E. very few people over here ever write a 1 with the little "flag" thing at the top, so there's no need to distinguish between them) And like I mentioned, there have only been a very few people in my experience that have done this... In fact, I can only distinctively remember that one of them was a former teacher of mine... I have a vague memory of seeing it in a few other places, but I can't even remember who, where, or why... I can't even remember which particular teacher it was...only that I remember seeing it in a classroom, written on the chalkboard that way... So it must not be a widespread thing, at least not in this area... And we were certainly never taught to do it that way... So again, why do people do it? I can imagine that the few people I've seen doing it came from some other location, where it is more prevalent than it is here, but it still bothers me... And of course as I'm typing this, I'm struck with the obvious parallel to my rampant ellipsis misuse (and not just because of Crispy's comment below)... To which I can only say that I grudgingly admit my hypocracy...lol Of course, I'd also like to point out that regardless of how I may sound about this, it doesn't really bother me... I mean, yes, it does bother me, but not as badly as I'm making it out to be... I am perfectly able to live with it, and I don't hold it against anyone... It's always just seemed to me to be sort of "snobbish"... [Edit] Darn vBB code... I really need to concentrate on keeping my forums seperated...lol (For those that read this after this edit, and miss what I'm talking about, I had unconsciously used the "[i](word)[/i]" tags in the above post for the italicized words...) | |
I think that one is sort of a "style" problem with me... I prefer consistency, and uniformity (not [i]con[/i]formity, but a simple uniformity in each individual)... And that little loop on the bottom of a 2 makes it look a bit different from the other numbers... Like it's a different "font" or something...
I don't like that... It's almost like switching into cursive in the middle of a printed word... | |
I do that. I can't help it. I learned to write in cursive long before I learned to print well, so when I try to print I usually end up writing half of a few words in cursive by accident.
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I suppose I could say the opposite for myself now that I think about it...
It's been so long since I've written in cursive on a regular basis, that in the few times when I do, I end up writing a few letters here and there in a print fashion... So I guess in some cases, it can't be helped, but I still don't like it very much... | |
Really, the only use I can recall of the "struck-through" 7 is from teachers, too--and math teachers at that, which I think is fairly understandable. I know that if I had to wade through 20-200 sheets daily, each filled with its unique brand of scrawl, that I'd want to emphasize as much difference between symbols as I could (ones might not be a problem, but then again they might--and then there's assorted parentheses, brackets, greater-than symbols, z's, and hell, basically everything else, that easily turn into 7s in the hands of a truly talented scrawler like myself). Then again I don't know how many students actually pick up the habit, and most of the math teachers I've had printed their stuff very clearly, so you do have to wonder what the point of it all is.
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SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
So it must not be a widespread thing, at least not in this area... And we were certainly never taught to do it that way... So again, why do people do it? Actually, I get the impression that putting a line through the seven might have been the norm at one time. I say this because I recall early school books that teach you how to write your numbers and letters that had the line through the 7 and the Z, and that the little flag on the one was a bit longer. So accounting for the differences in peoples handwriting abilities, these marks through the seven and letter Z were meant the really distinguish these characters from the 1, the I, and the 2. I also vaguely recall something about the line through the z helps children with dyslexia recognize the difference between the z and the s a bit easier. So it may in fact be the Americans who are the odd ones to be writing 1's and 7's and Z's the way they generally do, since I've seen that nearly everyone around here in Europe puts the line through the 7 and Z (not 100%, but it does seem to be taught in the schools that way). :) | |