When we see 2016, we may think of a particular number, but what we see is not the number but strictly speaking it is just various ink patterns that we interpret to represent a numerical value. We take it for granted that 2016 and 3.14 are numbers, but strictly they are numerals, ways of printing or writing number values. The aim is to begin to move towards more robust implementations of numbers in all digital devices, systems and services. This paper provides an analysis that should help everyone appreciate the causes of the problems and the limitations of current interactive systems. The implication is that interactive numerals are not well understood this paper aims to correct that. We will present some worrying examples taken from a wide range of systems in the body of the paper. Indeed, this paper shows that many numerical errors are caused, not by users, but by the poor design of the systems.
It is, therefore, important to properly understand interactive numerals and any limitations they have in current systems. In hospitals-to take just one example of a critical application of interactive numerals-clinicians routinely enter drug doses and radiation doses into interactive systems, where numerical errors can be fatal and are often treated as criminal. This paper shows that poorly implemented interactive numerals are surprisingly widespread even systems developed by the world’s leading programmers are not immune. In particular, until interactive numerals are properly implemented, using data logs in investigations of alleged user error is unreliable (devices tend to record what they do, not what the user tells them to do). Understanding interactive numerals makes error management more reliable: deciding what to do after an error has occurred requires understanding the root causes of the error. A proper understanding of interactive numerals should help researchers identify related problems and seek suitable solutions, as well as help practitioners recognize design problems and to decide on effective responses to problems: whether re-implementing systems, training users, upgrading or replacing or even banning the systems. Incorrectly implemented interactive numerals cause subtle and sometimes critical problems. Interactive numerals highlight common avoidable defects in many interactive systems where people use numbers. The reach of the concept is very broad, covering calculators, spreadsheets, medical devices, computerized forms, web sites, airplane cockpits-in fact, all forms of numerical data entry system.
Interactive numerals highlight a wide range of hitherto unnoticed issues with entering and using numbers reliably with interactive computer systems. This paper introduces the new concept of interactive numerals.
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