| Have you ever stopped to think about the lowly | | | | When the telephone push button keypad |
| keypad? But when you do think about it, it's not | | | | appeared in the 1960's, the arrangement was the |
| such a lowly item after all. Keypads are a fixture | | | | complete opposite from the calculator keypad. |
| in our daily lives--look around the house--keypads | | | | · Calculator keypad = 3x3 in ascending |
| are on telephones, calculators, the security | | | | numbers plus one. |
| system, garage door, computers, microwaves, | | | | · Telephone keypad = 3x3 in descending |
| washers, dryers, TV remotes, game consoles. | | | | numbers plus one. |
| The list goes on and on. | | | | There is a theory that the telephone layout was |
| The first calculators started with our fingers and | | | | chosen to keep people experienced with adding |
| toes for smaller numbers and evolved to the | | | | machines would dial faster than the telephone |
| abacus for larger numbers (2700-2300 BC). The | | | | network could respond. Regardless of the keypad |
| first mechanical calculator was invented in 1623. | | | | layout, both configurations remain today in the |
| Fast forward to the 1850's when the first | | | | 21st century. |
| successful key-driven adding and calculating | | | | Keypads as we know them today are getting |
| machine was invented. This could be the beginning | | | | smaller but more sensitive to touch. Think about |
| of the first keys and the first keypads. Once the | | | | your cell phone and texting. Have you noticed that |
| pattern for the 10-key adding machine and | | | | rubber keypads are softer and sensitive to |
| calculator was established, it became the standard | | | | touch? Makes one wonder what the next |
| of the industry. | | | | generation of rubber keypads will produce. |