Phone numbers and keypads

Decided: phone numbers stay as they are, and phone keypads get a dozenal layout (below).

Why: phone numbers are names, not amounts, so dozenal gains them nothing; keypads still need X and E for amounts, and the 4 × 3 keypad has exactly twelve keys for the twelve digits. * and # can't be reused as digits because phone systems use them as menu keys.

Advantage: no number changes, and the keypad gains the two digits without losing * and # or changing where 1-9 and 0 are.

  • Phone numbers are names, not amounts: nobody adds or divides them, so they gain nothing from dozenal, and changing every number in the world would cost a great deal. They're read digit by digit as now (see Spoken numbers), like postcodes, PINs and account numbers
  • Keypads still need X and E for typing dozenal amounts (prices, times, quantities). * and # can't stand in for them: they're already used as menu and control keys by phone systems
  • The standard keypad already has twelve keys in a 4 × 3 grid, so a dozenal keypad puts exactly the twelve digits there, and moves * and # to a row of their own:
 1   2   3
 4   5   6
 7   8   9
 X   0   E
 *       #
  • 0 stays in the middle of the bottom row, where it is on phones today; X and E take the corners * and # used to have, in order (dek before el)

Decided: the number pad on keyboards and calculators keeps its shape and its 7-8-9-on-top order, and makes room for X, E and the dozenal point (layout below).

Why: the bottom row matches the phone keypad (X 0 E), the footprint stays the same so existing keyboards and cases still fit, and 7-8-9 stays on top so people keep the muscle memory they have.

Advantage: every digit and the point get a key of their own without a bigger pad, and the same X 0 E row appears on phones, calculators and keyboards.

 Num   /    *    -
  7    8    9    +
  4    5    6    ;
  1    2    3   Ent
  X    0    E   Ent
  • Today's wide 0 is split into X and 0, and the decimal point's key becomes E, so the bottom row reads X 0 E as on the phone keypad
  • The tall + is split in two, + above and ; (the dozenal point) below; Enter stays tall
  • Same footprint and key spacing as today (19 keys instead of 17), so existing cases and keyboards fit
  • 7-8-9 stays on top, as on every calculator: changing it would break the muscle memory people already have, even though phones count the other way

Decided: main keyboards need no new keys.

Why: X and E are typed as capital letters (the reason they were chosen; see Digits), and the semicolon is already on the home row, unshifted on most layouts. ↊ ↋ only need an input method, not new keys.

Advantage: dozenal can be typed on every keyboard in use today.

  • X and E are typed as capital letters (see Digits), and ; is already on the home row, unshifted on most layouts - one reason the semicolon makes a good dozenal point
  • For typeset ↊ ↋, a keyboard layout option types them with AltGr / Option + X and E; until then, text replacement (eg "dek" → ↊) or the Unicode codes (U+218A, U+218B)