# Numberpad? Why different than the phone
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 12, 2006, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153 "2006-07-12T07:37:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@yedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yedi)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153/1 "2006-07-12T07:37:27Z")
Why is the numberpad on calculators or keyboards are different than the numberpad of the phones. since an avarage human dials mmore numbers than he uses a calculator why it is ordered in a strange fashion?
A friend of mine told me that in accounting numbers 0-1-2-3- and 5 are used very frequently and in order to acess these numbers real quick the calculator is designed that way but i am not sure his explanation is right.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153/2 "2006-07-12T07:49:16Z")
See Cecil’s report on this from several years ago: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mphonedial.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mphonedial.html)
And you question is backwards: the numberpad on calculators (actually adding machines) long preceeded the telephone touch-tone keypad. So the question is why the phone company used a different design. Which is explained in that column.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153/3 "2006-07-12T12:42:34Z")
The report misses an obvious point about the old-style cash registers and calculators: You did have a matrix of buttons for each decimal point. Each button was attached to a shaft that turned a wheel that changed the numbers. The nine, turned the wheel nine positions; the one turned the shaft one position (there was no zero button; you just didn’t press anything if there was a zero in that column). This meant the 9s had a much longer shaft than the 1s. Putting the 9 at the bottom would have made for an awkward arrangement – the larger number keys would get in the way. By putting 1 at the bottom, you can minimize the difference in key height and, as a bonus, have the keyboard sloping toward the user.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/numberpad-why-different-than-the-phone/364153/4 "2006-07-12T14:10:16Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> The report misses an obvious point about the old-style cash registers and calculators: You did have a matrix of buttons for each decimal point. Each button was attached to a shaft that turned a wheel that changed the numbers. The nine, turned the wheel nine positions; the one turned the shaft one position (there was no zero button; you just didn’t press anything if there was a zero in that column). This meant the 9s had a much longer shaft than the 1s. Putting the 9 at the bottom would have made for an awkward arrangement – the larger number keys would get in the way. By putting 1 at the bottom, you can minimize the difference in key height and, as a bonus, have the keyboard sloping toward the user.
That makes sense. You should post it in Comment’s on Cecil’s and see if they’ll add that to the end of the article.