braile

[kopend]

how many dots are used in the braile alphabet

[rinkytink]

 

84

[kempie]

Answered here... http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Question97969.html

[The Gambler]

well using traditional 6 dot Braille the answer is 64 including the empty cell. However there is also 8 dot braille - just to confuse matters!! I think the question masters are keeping their options open!!?

[rinkytink]

 

So why, if you count all of the dots used in each letter, are there 84 used in total ?

[Hippy]

There are 63 possible characters in Braille, and these are allocated letters of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation, and formatting symbols. Each Braille character is two columns of three dots, and as an aid to memory and reading they are thought of as being in seven lines. This is a bit esoteric and has to do with repeated patterns in various parts of the character. This is Grade 1 Braille.

Grade 2 Braille uses the same characters, but to speed things up uses about 170 contractions for common words and expressions. These can be one or two character symbols, and the Braille reader or writer gets to be able to recognise them from the context. This is sometines called "English Braille" because the contractions have relevance to the English language.