WHY do calculators start at the bottom and the phone starts at the top?
The calculator evolved from cash registers and mechanical counting machines, which is why the numbers are arranged from bottom to top. In the past, telephones had dials for dialing until the introduction of tone dialing, which led to the adoption of buttons. Various arrangements were attempted, including circular or two-row layouts, but the familiar three-row layout with numbers in ascending order (top to bottom) was ultimately chosen.
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