How do you type numbers?
 

Hey, guys, it's a poll that applies to practically everybody on this board!

Three weeks ago, I started working in the office of a coal mining company. As I was being trained, other people noticed that I generally type numbers using the row near the top of the keyboard. I realized that this has amazed other people for years, but it's no big deal to me. I grew up with a Commodore 64, and that machine didn't have a numeric keypad. On that computer, I had to type this way.

Anyway, I didn't really master the numeric keypad until about two years ago. I figured that I might as well try the thing, and it took me a couple of days to get comfortable with it. Now I'm just as good with that, but I still mostly use the number row at the top. Since this has amazed so many people I've worked with, I've started to wonder if I'm doing something uncommon. So I ask FOFC:

Primarily, which do you use to type numbers? The number row, the numeric keypad, or both about equally?

Slow day at work, eh? ;)

Busted. :(

About equally I imagine, depends mostly on what I'm doing.
If I'm working mostly with numbers, I use the keypad. If it's just 1 or 2 random numbers among a bunch of text, then I usually go to the top row.

if i'm entering numbers into excel, i'll tend to use the keypad.

any other application (typing in IP addresses, for exampe), i'm using the top row of the keyboard.

Thank you all so much for answering my poll! You are all sweethearts!!!

my laptop (my only computer) has no numeric keypad, so this one was easy. But really, I've never really used the numeric keypad except in my keyboarding class in high school where we were forced to learn with it.

I honestly don't know.

The number row.

Whenever possible, the keypad.

If I'm typing "I want to drink 6 beers", I use the top row. But if I'm doing actual number entry, it has to be the keypad.

Yeah, same here. Anything in a database or spreadsheet, tab with the left hand, enter numbers with the right.

I never use the keypad on the side.

I took a typing class in 7th or 8th grade, which would have been the fall of '81 or '82. We had actual typewriters, which didn't have number pads on the right, of course. I still type using pretty much the "standard" format taught to me by Mr. Earl A. Birney, Jr., including stretching the fingers to reach the numbers above the top row of letters.

Depends. If I'm on my laptop, the top row is the only option. Otherwise, I use the keypad.

If I'm doing data entry (which I have to do somewhat often), it's the keypad. If it's mixed in with words, I use the number row.

ditto

"

Heh heh.....I had typing class too back in the early 80's ('83 - '84). In fact, it is strange to see how it went from the typewriter to the word processor to the computer within a short span of time.

Working on a typewriter was an exercise. The carriage return took a lot of practice because I would hear the bell ring and still try to complete a long word that ended up going off the page. Plus I would always manage to double hit the handle and make the page move up two lines. Geez, I could never go back to that. Think about all that work to write a freaking page without errors and don't even talk about carbon copies.

Usually I use my fingers to type numbers as well as letters. Sometimes my forehead if I'm frustrated.

keypad every single time.

keypad. a few years back, I used to run some fantasy hockey and baseball leagues, and for a long time I entered all the numbers in by hand. when I have to type numbers on my laptop, I'm lost

always keypad. the top number row is worthless.

Wait until you show these people fire! That'll really knock their socks off!

I picked up the keypad when I worked at Office Max in high school and have used it primarily ever since.

SI

:D

It really is strange how people at work react when they see me typing this way. I mean, part of it is that I type about 120 WPM, but I've heard more than once, "Look how fast he's typing... and look how he's using the numbers up at the top!" I have actually had co-workers call people from across the room to come over and watch me type, and they always mention the number thing.

So, yeah, I'm gonna try setting stuff on fire and see how it turns out. Oh, wait, that's not what you meant.

Keypad. Comes from working a couple of years in a bank doing accounting... you either learn to use the calculator, or you DIE! OK, not really, but I learned to do that keypad rather quickly, and now use it on the computer as well since they're laid out the same.

I'm all about the 10-key.

Top row 100% of the time. That mass of keys to the right is about useless to me...

I took keyboarding in highshool in '95.. and we were STILL using typwriters. A semester or two later they switched to using computers, but were too stupid to use a program that would disable the backspace key and so everyone cheated.

If I'm just typing a couple of numbers in the middle of a sentence I'll generally use the number row, but if I'm independently entering numbers the keypad is a lot faster (I worked in a retail store in college and we didn't have scanners, so I got really good at ten-key).

I made sure to get a laptop with a keypad on it. This was a deal-breaker to me. I would not have bought a laptop at all if I couldn't have a keypad.

10-key all the time

I used to use a keypad when I worked for an inventory company a couple years ago and I used to be really fast at it. SO I stick with the key pad on the keyboard.

You should start charging people to watch you type :p

I guess that explains the mac-and-cheese-with-coal-dust-on-the-fingers thread last week. :p

They never want to give me money. They only offer booty. :confused:

Heyyyy, Dodgerchick, wanna watch me type?

Can anyone explain why are the numbers on a calculater positioned differently from the numbers on a telephone?

I'm the same as finkenst. I normally use a laptop at home though, so I always use the numeric row at the top because my laptop doesn't have the keypad. At work though, I use the keypad.

I learned by using sharpened reeds on papyrus.

what he said

The only time I've ever used the keypad on the side was during duels in Pirates Gold! to control my guy's attack and defense... :)

That's weird. When I worked at Office Max in high school, I spent most of my time cleaning the bathroom.

So far, the distribution of votes is about what I expected. I'm just unsettled that QuikSand didn't vote, considering how many questions he's asked about us. :(

(maybe he didn't even read this poll, and no, I'm not even serious)

If I'm typing that, I will type it "I want to drink six beers." :D

I use the top row in regular typing, but if I am working in a spreadsheet I will sometimes use the number pad. If I'm typing, it just doesn't make sense for me to move my hand off of the home row, look down at the keypad, and then move my hand back to the home row. I don't type 120WPM (maybe in the 40-50 range), so I can't afford that wasted time. ;)

Dola - and yes, I first learned to type on a typewriter.

I don't think this post has gotten the attention it deserves :)

SI

Accountant here - so you can probably figure out what I use.

By the way, five months later, this still disturbs me. :o

I generally use the top row if I'm at home, the keypad if I'm at Vicceh's Secret on the register, though I oddly have the option of both at both places.