Engineering:Eight-segment display
An eight-segment display is a type of display based on eight segments that can be turned on or off according to the font pattern to be produced.
It is similar to a nine-segment display whose middle vertical bars are vertical, except that on an eight-segment display, the bars F and G are merged.
Applications
One application was in the Sharp EL-8, an early electronic calculator. The eight-segment display produces more rounded digits than a seven-segment display, yielding a more "script-like" output, with the trade-off that fewer possible alphabetic characters can be displayed because the bars F and G are merged (see table below).
Displaying
An eight segment display can sometimes display alphabetic characters with less readability because the segments F and G are combined and the corners are rounded. The asymmetrical layout of the elements produced a distinctive "handwritten" digit style, with a half-height "0".
Because of graphical confusion, it is unable to display the following characters:
| Script | Characters | Displays as | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | C, c, d, G, L, N, n, 0, o, r, U, Z, Ə | Characters | What they display as on an eight-segment display |
| Greek | Γ, Ζ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, ο, Π, π | C, [, ( | E |
| Cyrillic | Г, г, д, П, п, Э | c, L, r, г | t |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | d, U | Ɐ |
| G | 6 | ||
| N, Ν, λ, Π, П | A | ||
| n, π, п | h | ||
| o, ο | b | ||
| Z, Ζ, | e | ||
| 0, O, Ə, Ο, д | 8 | ||
| Γ, Г | F | ||
| Ξ | C̠ | ||
| Э | 9 | ||
| " | ˅ | ||
| ^ | ° | ||
| - | ` | ||
| / | µ | ||
| ? | P | ||
Examples
Sharp EL-8 with eight-segment displays
Eight-segment display of the Sharp EL-8
Eight-segment display displaying an 8
Eight-segment display displaying a D
See also
- Seven-segment display
- Nine-segment display
- Fourteen-segment display
- Sixteen-segment display
- Dot matrix display
- Vacuum fluorescent display
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