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Talk:Symbols for zero

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Braille zero

[edit]
Image of Braille cell for letter O
Braille O

In a recent edit, Il Gatto Obeso points out that image given for "Braille zero" (in Symbols for zero#Other is in fact the Braille cell for the letter O – although (as with early typewriters) it is a substitute for it. There appears to be no dedicated assignment to the number zero: if needed explicitly then it is achieved using the sequence ⠼⠚ (numeric shift then J). [My paraphrase of their edit note.]

So the solutions seem to me to be these:

  1. Delete the Braille sample from the line-up because it is not formally a symbol for zero
  2. Let it stand but correct the caption so that it reads something like "Braille symbol for the letter O, often [sometimes?] used as a symbol for zero.
    1. as above but append the NumShift, J sequence as being the formal representation of zero in Braille (even though it is not a single symbol).

(Full disclosure: it was I who introduced this error because I failed to perceive the difference between O and 0 at the Braille article.)

Comments? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 16:52, 30 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@John Maynard Friedman: I've deleted it. As a Braille reader, I can categorically say that the Braille letter "o" is never used to represent the number zero. Also the number sign followed by j is the most common way to represent zero in all forms of Braille internationally, but by no means the only one; see French Braille#Numbers and Nemeth Braille#General signs, for example. Graham87 06:56, 22 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]