Calculator spelling

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Calculator spelling (also known as beghilos) is a technique of spelling words by reading characters upside-down from calculators equipped with certain kinds of seven-segment displays.

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[edit] Description

An unintended characteristic of the seven-segment display is that many numbers, when read upside-down, appear as letters in the Latin alphabet. Each digit can be mapped to a unique letter, creating a limited but functional subset of the alphabet, sometimes called the beghilos alphabet:

Letter: B E G g h I L O S Z
Digit: 8 3 6 9 4 1 7 0 5 2

On a calculator, this appears as:

Certain calculators omit the topmost stem on the digit 6 and the bottommost stem on 9. In such cases, 6 renders a lowercase q when turned upside-down, and 9 appears as a lowercase b.

Only certain calculators are capable of this . LCD, VFD, LED, and Panaplex displays are best for spelling words. Spelling with Nixie tubes is less effective because the display is not as readable when upside-down. Furthermore, with dot-matrix displays, fourteen-segment and sixteen-segment displays, the ability to render most characters defeats the purpose of spelling with a limited alphabet.

Digital manometer error code
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Digital manometer error code

[edit] Applications

Aside from novelty and amusement, calculator spelling has limited practicality. Students in particular experiment with calculators to find what words are possible.

Calculator spelling can be used in programming as a form of textual feedback on devices with limited output ability. The programmer is given a wider set of letters to use and does not require the reader to turn the device upside-down. This is particularly useful in scientific calculators that feature hexadecimal readout using the letters A through F. Students often use this feature and an improved "alpha" feature that use the letters "A" through "Z" to write messages to each other, separating words by using the sign "-".

[edit] Calculator spelling in popular culture

  • In 1979 the band The Hollies released an album titled 5317704, which spells "hOLLIES" when inverted on a calculator screen.
  • In the Homestar Runner Flash Cartoon series, in the Strong Bad email "technology," Strong Bad makes his calculator say "OBOE SHOES."
  • There is a passing joke to kids writing "BOOBIES" on their calculator in a Penny Arcade comic.

[edit] See also

[edit] Reference

  • Rechnerspielereien, 1973. No ISBN, author, or publisher.

[edit] External links

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