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No one's quite certain why the numbers on phones read from top to bottom when keyboard and calculator numbers read from the bottom up. But there's no denying which set of buttons came first -- numeric keypads are based on old adding machines. Generations of accountants have used them with blurring efficiency. So why mess with tradition? Why not keep the same format for telephones? Fortunately, the brains at HowStuffWorks have formulated a few theories that might explain this bizarre discrepancy. One theory contends that prototype touchtone keypads in the '50s
were originally identical to calculator keypads, but operators were so adept at using them they jammed the phone lines. The number layout was redesigned to actually slow down fast fingers. Another theory states the phone keypad came from a 1960 Bell Labs survey in which more people liked the "1" on top (after all, we're not all accountants). Or maybe the phone layout was roughly based on the old rotary system.
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