Description
An unintended characteristic of the seven-segment display is that many numbers, when read upside-down, resemble letters of the Latin alphabet. Each digit can be mapped to a unique letter, creating a limited but functional subset of the alphabet.
| Digit: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F |
| Letter: | O | I | Z | E | h | S | g | L | B | b | Y | q | J | P | 3 | j |
The graphic below illustrates with the sequence "250714638" appearing inverted as "BEghILOSZ":
Certain calculators omit the topmost stem on the digit "6" and the bottom-most stem on the "9". In such cases, "6" renders a lowercase "q" when turned upside-down, and "9" appears as a lowercase "b".
Other variants of calculator spelling alphabets consider "0" to be a capital "D" instead of "O", "6" (not used in the standard Beghilos) as a lowercase "g" (as opposed to uppercase represented by 9) and "9" as either a reversed lowercase "a" or an at sign (@), both of which represent the letter A.
Extending the available alphabet to hexadecimal notation (generally available on lower-end scientific calculators, though not on basic models), "b" and "d" correspond to "z" and "p" respectively. "F" transforms to a "j" A, C, and E do not transform readily to recognizable letters. C transforms to a J, which is recognizable and distinct enough to the point where it can be used as J. E transforms to 3, which has little use, though it can be used on an ad hoc basis as a sideways M or W. Upside-down A is Y.
Using leet, additional letters can be represented by combinations of letters (11/II or 2 representing "two" or "to", 111/III representing "three", 15/SI, 935/SEa or 335/SEE for "C", etc.). This is generally rare and, especially in the last case (using a spelling-out of a letter) severely limits readability.
Only certain calculators are capable of being used for beghilos calculator spelling. LCD, VFD, LED, and Panaplex displays are best for spelling words. The ability of dot-matrix displays, fourteen-segment and sixteen-segment displays to render most characters defeats the purpose of spelling with a limited alphabet.
If the calculator is instead rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise from upright to create a vertical display, a different, but less useful, set of letters can be reproduced:
| Digit: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| Letter: | O | - | N | M | J | u | b | C | ∞ | ɑ | ¢ | O | U | P | W | u |
If the calculator is instead rotated 90 degrees clockwise from upright to create a vertical display, STILL a different, but less useful, set of letters can be reproduced:
| Digit: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F |
| Letter: | O | - | N | W | r | n | ɑ | J | ∞ | b | D | q | n | a | M | n |
Placing a calculator in a mirror produces the following character set:
| Digit: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F |
| Letter: | O | I | S | E | y | Z | a | r | B | e | A | d | J | b | 3 | z |
Read more about this topic: Calculator Spelling
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