Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
A hive of inactivity

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                                     

lossy numbers

number symbols that even with fading are good
  (+6)
(+6)
  [vote for,
against]

I wrote a telephone number on my hand. A few hours later the blurred number gave me some puzzlement. Luckily, I deduced the correct digits.

What about 10 very different symbols so that if there is any loss or blur, the numbers are still distinguishable. I thought the symbols might be along the lines of play station symbols or Zenner symbols.

The symbols would have to be simple for quick conversion and as individual as possible.

Baked? , useful ?

wjt, Sep 28 2009

Zener cards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zener_cards
Designed by perceptual psychologist Karl Zener for use in parapsychological experiments. [jutta, Sep 28 2009]

PlayStation symbols http://japanesetran...laystation-symbols/
Well, almost - this article is about a set of japanese symbols frequently used to mark things on a scale. The PlayStation has a square instead of a double circle. [jutta, Sep 28 2009]

Zener diode http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zener_diode
Completely unrelated, but the word zener gets so little play [normzone, Sep 28 2009]

Margaret Calvert https://en.wikipedi...ki/Margaret_Calvert
Design of road signs [Frankx, Oct 04 2019]

Motorway typeface https://en.wikipedi...Motorway_(typeface)
Designed for readability [Frankx, Oct 04 2019]

DIN 1451 typeface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451
Another typeface designed for readability [Frankx, Oct 04 2019]

Unreliable Numbers https://royalsociet...1098/rsif.2015.0685
Unreliable numbers: error and harm induced by bad design can be reduced by better design [Frankx, Oct 09 2019]


Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.



Annotation:







       Impractical solution: Prick your hand with needles to cause welts in the shape of Morse Code.
DrWorm, Sep 28 2009
  

       If you had a phone on you, you could enter the number into contacts instead of using a color-based code to write it on your hand.
DrWorm, Sep 29 2009
  

       coloured pens is a stretch, who carries a multi- barreled pen. Morse would be a pain if the frame got smudged.   

       I was thinking that an algorithm could compute the difference between the simple symbols to measure their individuality. The more individual, the more likely a blur won't make them similar. Of course there will be a level of error that won't help you no matter how individual the characters are.
wjt, Sep 29 2009
  

       Actually, the characters above the numbers on the qwerty keyboard might work well. If 9 was (, zero could not be ). Too similar.   

       Sorry, on 'my' keyboard 1=!, 2=@, 3=#, 4=$, 5=%, 6=^, 7=&, 8=*, 9=(, 0=)
wjt, Sep 29 2009
  

       [bigsleep] I thought "wouldn't it be nice" ideas usually are not practical or not doable. This symbol coding might not catch on, but then it is amazing what does become popular. Text word coding for example.   

       This would probably have limited application. I could have used it for that phone number so not a WIBNITWSB
wjt, Sep 29 2009
  

       with a bit of practice you could use the abc def ghj etc to write words
FlyingToaster, Sep 29 2009
  

       I thought black was just the darkest shade of any possible colour, and so, strictly speaking, is not one in it's own right [UnaBubba]?
kaz, Oct 01 2009
  

       If this could be adjusted so there is no chance of confusing numbers due to different writers even when scribbled or written quickly, not just blurring, this would be a good thing. I once worked on a set of financial books where the prior treasurer wrote their 8s almost exactly how I wrote my 9s. 4 and 8, 7 and 1, and 5 and 6 are also easily confused under different hands.
MechE, Oct 01 2009
  

       Perhaps a mark could be put on each finger: left-most finger (thumb, palms up) means 1 and count up to the right. Some idea is needed to record the correct order...
Ling, Oct 01 2009
  

       All colours are shades. Black just happens to be one of the two extreme shades.   

       [Ling] Maybe crossing toes could be used to indicate order.   

       [UnaBubba] 6,7,9 are a bit close with the cross at the top. Zero is just to complicated.
wjt, Oct 01 2009
  

       How about you convert the phone number to binary (or, more practically, BCD), and then write it on your skin using short lines with their angles 90° apart (either horizontal and vertical lines, or forward slashes and backslashes) to represent 1 and 0. Or just write ones and zeros—those already look different enough.
notexactly, Oct 04 2019
  

       The idea is nice [+]. There are people who study human readability and this kind of thing- famously Margaret Calvert, [link] British road-sign designer, and fonts for road and motorway signage.   

       This leads on to the beautiful and interesting field of Information Design - and also human error analysis.
Frankx, Oct 04 2019
  

       Is that human {error analysis} or {human error} analysis ?
8th of 7, Oct 04 2019
  

       Well, probably human [human error] analysis.
Frankx, Oct 04 2019
  

       Will there be {human errors} in the analysis (performed by humans) of the {human errors} ?
8th of 7, Oct 04 2019
  

       I don't know without doing some analysis. Let's see...   

       The result of my human {human{human error}error analysis}error analysis is Yes, there will be errors. Unless I'm wrong
Frankx, Oct 04 2019
  

       Fascinating paper about poor design and human error in handling numbers [link] - particularly in safety-critical applications.   

       On the WorldWide Web Consortium's A vocabulary and associated APIs for HTML and XHTML W3C Working Draft:   

       "This code is notable because it is presented by a leading organization with a worldwide impact, but what is presented as a computer program is—we argue—in fact a list of vague English instructions, with misleading sophistication and pedantry"   

       Nice!
Frankx, Oct 09 2019
  

       //Unless I'm wrong//   

       To determine that, would require {human {human{human error}error analysis}error analysis} analysis.
pocmloc, Oct 09 2019
  

       It might be cheaper and easier to just guess, and hope that noone questions the results.   

       After all, that seems to be the most common approach ...
8th of 7, Oct 09 2019
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle