Why are the numbers reversed on a computer keyboard in comparison to a telephone?

Question

Could they not just make them all the same???

Answer 1

I work in telephone service, and Ive wondered the same thing. Because when I type a phone numberin on my keyboard, I have to reverse the pattern in which I type for the phone.

Its ridiculous

Answer 2

The predecessor to the touch tone dial was the rotary dial.  The rotary dial operated by winding a spring and when let go it would generate electronic pulses for each digit dialled.  For example a digit 9 would pulse out nine times.  The digit 6 would pulse out six times.  In order for this to operate correctly the highest number (the most pulses) had to be the furthest away from the dial fingerstop.  This meant that the digit 1 was at the top of the dial and the digits 9 (nine pulses) & 0 (ten pulses) were at the bottom.

When the touch tone dial was created they followed the same pattern putting the digit 1 at the top and the digits 9&0 at the bottom to avoid misdialling by people used to using rotary dial telephones.

The electronic keyboard with a dial pad came long after the telephone dial.  The typewriter did not have a dial pad.