How number keypads on computers differ from phone keypads

Dear Matt: I apologize if you’ve already been asked this question. Then again, who cares. You get paid for this. What a life. Anyway, a few of my associates and I were wondering why the numerical keypads on a computer are in an opposite pattern from those of a telephone keypad. This doesn’t seem to make any sense. Hope to hear from you soon. — Michael Kaminski, Oceanside

I’m paid handsomely, Mike, for knowing just this kind of junk. It’s a compensatory reward, based on solid logic. If most of my brain slots weren’t full of irrelevant info. I’d have more room for practical skills, and I’d lead a richer, more fulfilling life. But on to your query. The calculator predates telephones and computers. Keypad designers placed the frequently used zero and one at the low end to make them more easily accessible. Telephone keypads had to accommodate letters; phone numbers originally were a combination of words and digits (BUtterfield 8-5000, for example). So the keys were laid out from A to Z (and thus 1 to 9), top to bottom. The number keypad on a computer is the equivalent of a calculator keypad, not a telephone, ergo, bottom to top.