Funny Looking Numbers

[Lionel Mandrake]

Numerals are usually written with a constant height, like capital letters. That's how I was taught to write them in elementary school.

In some fonts, however, the numerals have various heights, like lower-case letters. Have you ever seen numbers like that? They look kind of funny.

Some of the funny looking numerals have "x" height, like the letters a, c, e, m ... x. Others have "descenders" (like the letters g, j, p, q, y) or "ascenders" (like b, f, h, l, ...).

Here are samples from all the fonts I could find with funny-looking numbers:

Candara 0123456789

Constantia 0123456789

Corbel 0123456789

Hoefler Text 0123456789

Apple Chancery 0123456789

I hope at least some of these fonts show up on your screen, as they did on mine when I "previewed" this post.

[madinmaryland]

1. Dude! Stop bogarting that joint and pass it around!!

:smoke:

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. Sorry, no can do.

Proposition 19 did not pass in California. Marijuana is still illegal here. :P

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Lionel Mandrake!

Fonts are such interesting things...

I love the different ways they look...

Two of these fonts look as I expect numbers to look: no ascenders or descenders at all.

They are the Hoefler Text and the Apple Chancery.

A curious business!

:hi:

[Lionel Mandrake]

5. That's because your computer is not a Mac.

You probably don't have either Hoefler Text or Apple Chancery on your computer. What you are seeing is some other (default) font.

[rug]

4. How do you like biforms?

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. I don't know. What's a biform?

Do you mean two forms for the same letter, like the pairs of forms you showed for the letters A, C, E, M, N, R, S, and U?

What kind of font is this?

[rug]

9. Yes. It's a lower case shape at an upper case size. They're also called common case or unicase.

This typeface is Filosofia Unicase.

[Lionel Mandrake]

15. The forms aren't outlandish.

A short piece of text printed in this typeface would be pleasant enough, but I don't think I would want to read a whole book like this. I've gotten used to the distinction between upper and lower case letters and would feel disoriented if that distinction were consistently blurred.

By the way, the terms "lower case" and "upper case" referred originally to the wooden cases used by printers. They are early modern names for a medieval concept.

The ancient alphabets were all unicase.

[Bucky]

6. God, I hate Constantia for that very reason. Look at the number 98176 in that font

The zip code 98176 just looks ridiculous. A font to be avoided. Worse than Comic Sans

[Lionel Mandrake]

8. That sure is a funny looking zip code.

I'll bet the machines in the post office have trouble reading a zip code like that.

[Iggo]

11. Are you kidding? That's beautiful.

Rise, fall, bottom out, then rise again. Very nice. Very waveformy.

[Xipe Totec]

10. Zero. Maya style

[Iggo]

12. Ancient astronauts taught 'em how to draw that.

Saw it on Discovery.

[Lionel Mandrake]

14. They didn't have to be taught.

They drew pictures of the flying saucers carrying the ancient astronauts. ;-)

[Iggo]

19. Of course!

It's so obvious!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. that is the Eye of the Tiger -

I heard it in a song.

[Lionel Mandrake]

16. I know that song. It's by William Blake.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire in thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, and what art?
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand, and what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb, make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

[Lionel Mandrake]

22. I hope everyone knows I'm kidding.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody has ever made Blake's poem into a song. :evilgrin:

[jmowreader]

17. They're called "text figures"

The kind you're used to are called "lining figures"--because the tops and bottoms line up.

Think of lining figures as "capital numbers" and text figures as "lowercase numbers." In large text blocks the text figures are more graceful.

[Lionel Mandrake]

20. According to Wikipedia, "text figures" are

also known as non-lining, lowercase, old-style, ranging, hanging, billing or antique figures or numerals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_figures

I see old-style numbers mostly in old books. The old-style numbers may be inconspicuous in large blocks of text, but they are harder to read than regular numbers. That's probably why old-style numbers are seldom used nowadays.

[jmowreader]

21. There's another reason

A FULL set of metal type has both lining figures--the ones used in tabular presentation, like grids of numbers (tax tables, lists etc) and text figures. (Lining figures are also monospaced so the columns line up.) When machines like the IBM Composer and phototypesetting machines like Compugraphics came out, they only had room for one set of figures--so they chose to use the lining figures because tabular work is a very important source of revenue.

When computers started running proportional faces, you only got 255 positions in a font, so obviously you didn't have room for two sets of figures. Once again, the lining figures were chosen.

A lot of people find lining figures stressful to read--they're the equivalent of ALL CAPS.

[Lionel Mandrake]

23. Your historical explanation may be correct,

in the sense that it explains how we got to where we are, but I think your last sentence should be in the past tense.

I maintain that fewer and fewer readers have ever seen "text figures". If I am right about this, then there is essentially no demand to resurrect these "funny looking numbers".

[prc73450]

18. interesting stuff