Number 0 and letter O

loulou41

This is a silly question to some but how can I tell the difference between the number 0 and capital 0? They look the same to me. I have to key in a subscription number for my AV and I am not sure what O it is e.g JOXX, it has got a line across the O. I assume it is a capital O, just want to make sure. Thanks

superscaper

loulou41 wrote: »

This is a silly question to some but how can I tell the difference between the number 0 and capital 0? They look the same to me. I have to key in a subscription number for my AV and I am not sure what O it is e.g JOXX, it has got a line across the O. I assume it is a capital O, just want to make sure. Thanks

I'm afraid depending on the font it can be almost impossible to tell. There should be at least a slight difference an O being a bit wider than a 0 (zero) for instance. If you don't have anything for comparison then all I can suggest is try and if it doesn't work then change them.

Donnie

Zero is oval, whereas the letter is round. If there is a slash through it, that is another indication that it is zero.

sleep2much

0 O o look differant to me, maybe your font? many people use the other similar letters numbers caps etc to copy other peoples usernames in forums, but it is down to the font used, they really are the same to look at, the 0 with a line accross is the number zero, unless it's that northern european Ø.....I'm getting confused now

superscaper

Reminds me of a software engineer once telling me that he was awaiting some important serial number/code for his company but he was out at the time. He came back and there was a written message from one of the company's secrataries. He couldn't tell what were zeroes or o's and it was vitally important in his case so he asked the secretary and her only response was "does it matter?". She really thought that if it can look the same handwritten then it shouldn't matter to the computer. I guess some people don't realise the exact science computing is :rolleyes:.

oldagetraveller

Most people also seem to have difficulty in determining whether it's letter O or number zero when they speak as well. e.g. A 'phone number is made up of just that, numbers, but the majority say O(letter) instead of correctly 0(zero, number).
I'm as guilty as most but do try to say zero and not O(letter) when I remember!!

culpepper

Back in the 1980's when programmes were printed in magazines for typing into your ZX Spectrum etc,the zero was always shown with a slash across it to tell the difference.

superscaper

oldagetraveller wrote: »

Most people also seem to have difficulty in determining whether it's letter O or number zero when they speak as well. e.g. A 'phone number is made up of just that, numbers, but the majority say O(letter) instead of correctly 0(zero, number).
I'm as guilty as most but do try to say zero and not O(letter) when I remember!!

Me too, although I'm much better at it now that I nearly always say zero when reciting something, almost habit. I think I still make an exception for telephone numbers as well but then there's no ambiguity there anyway.

superscaper

culpepper wrote: »

Back in the 1980's when programmes were printed in magazines for typing into your ZX Spectrum etc,the zero was always shown with a slash across it to tell the difference.

I sometimes do that handwritten as well where there may be confusion. I sometimes have to elaborate the number 1 the way it's typed here to distinguish it from an I (or elaborate the I or both). I've got particularly bad handwriting (and I write left handed, another curse), so I do have to make sure it's really clear.

loulou41

superscaper wrote: »

I sometimes do that handwritten as well where there may be confusion. I sometimes have to elaborate the number 1 the way it's typed here to distinguish it from an I (or elaborate the I or both). I've got particularly bad handwriting (and I write left handed, another curse), so I do have to make sure it's really clear.

That's another 2 letters I get confused with as well. Thanks to all of you, I think, it is a zero because it has a slash across it which seems strange as all the other are letters. J0XX, you would have thought it should be the letter O not zero.

Donnie

Having numbers interspersed makes the code more secure.