Ever Wondered Why Numbers on Phones and Calculators are Reversed?

Have you ever noticed that the keypads for calculators and phones are different? Though both keypads have zero at the bottom, the remaining numbers go from bottom to top on the calculator, and top to bottom on the phone. Why is that? Read on to know.

The story begins back in pre-calculator days, when there were mechanical cash registers. These cash registers were designed with 0 at the bottom, and the numbers going up. While making numerous calculations, 0 is the number which is used the most. So it made practical sense to place it below all other numbers so that it is the most accessible. When mechanical calculators made their appearance, they used the same format as cash register with 0 at the bottom and 9 on top.

When hand-held and electronic calculators made their appearance, they implemented the keypad arrangement of the existing calculators–0 at the bottom, 1-2-3 in the next row, 4-5-6 in the next row, and 7-8-9 in the top row, from left to right. So, basically, they evolved from the cash register.

But now comes the big question.

WHEN TELECOM COMPANIES DEVELOPED PHONES, WHY DIDN’T THEY SIMPLY REPLICATE THE CALCULATOR KEYPAD LAYOUT?

Before the touch-tone phone, of course, rotary dials were the rule. The rotary telephone was invention in the early 1900s. Instead of buttons, the numbers on the telephone were holes from 1-9, and then 0. The idea was to stick your finger in the hole and spin it around to dial each number.

With the advent of transistors & circuit design, engineers at the Bell Telephone Company (The Bell System) were planning to develop the new-gen phones in 1960s, by replacing the rotary dial with numerical keypad

Since it was an all-new design, engineers in the Bell team could not come to a consensus on what the keypad layout should be. While some engineers were of the opinion that it should be a 5×2 matrix (5 rows, 2 columns), some thought 3×3 matrix would be fine, while few others thought just replicating the calculator layout would be good enough.

To resolve this, the engineering team conducted an experiments with several kinds of keypad layouts and invited hundreds of people to use them & provide their feedback. The engineers at Bell Labs discovered people were more comfortable with a keypad layout which had 1-2-3 on top. The experiment results were published in their tech journal, an excerpt of which is as follows.

With these experiment results, Bell engineers were not confused anymore, and quickly implemented the design which people preferred, thereby resulting in the keypad layout which is still in use today and has been adapted to cellphones as well, but with a contrasting difference over calculator keypad layout.

Train Yourself to Fall Asleep in 60 Seconds With This Simple Technique

The most important thing for our optimal health is getting a good night’s sleep.

However, many people deal with insomnia. The major causer of this problem is stress. Continuous stress can cause a plethora of negative ramifications on the body, including  muscle fatigue, elevated levels of anxiety and impairment.

Luckily for us, there is one technique that has been proved to be effective when it comes to sleeplessness or insomnia.

It’s called the “4-7-8” breathing trick.

How to Perform This Breathing Technique

Start this tecnique by inhaling through your nose for a count of four seconds, hold your breath for seven seconds, and then start exhaling through your mouth for a count of 8 seconds. You can repeat this cycle as many times as you need until you fall asleep.

Maybe you will want to speed your breathing, but the key is to maintain the 4-7-8 brething pattern as long as possible in order for this technique to work. This slows down your heart rate and will have you dozing off in seconds.

Why it Works

According to some studies, stress and anxiety have a great impact on how our bodies function. For example, people who are anxious and stressed, they may be chronically under-breathing, taking qucik, shallow breaths, when they actually need to take slow, deep breaths in order to feel relaxed.

That’s why this 4-7-8 pattern is very good, since when you are inhaling for 4 seconds, you are forcing yourself to take in more oxygen; by holding your breath for 7 seconds, you are allowing the oxygen to spread throughout your bloodstream and finaly, by exhaling for eight seconds, you are expelling carbon dioxide steadily from your lungs.

With this technique, your body is able to relax more fully, because it slows your heart rate while increasing the levels of oxygen in your blood stream.

Making it Work For You

This amazing tecnique is spread from mouth to mouth by anxious bridesmaids in the United States. However, Dr. Andrew Weil, educated in Harward, is one of the foremost proponents of the 4-7-8 breathing tecnique.

Dr. Weil doesn’t promise that this breathing tecnique will work for everyone. However, the next time you are having a sleepless night, you can try this free, all-natural and completely healthy way to put yourself to sleep. Try to avoid  the over-the-counter pills and use some simple breathing exercises and you will see the difference that the 4-7-8 breathing method makes. SOURCE