question about usage

[Sam Beard]

Deidre,

   Yes, they ARE numbers. However, in an attempt to avoid confusion, the
characters themselves are referred to as numeric characters because 123
is itself a number MADE UP of those characters 1, 2, and 3. So, to try
and prevent people from confusing the NUMBER of 123 with the CHARACTERS
of 1, 2, and 3, the term numeric characters comes into play. Does that
help any?

Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard at oico.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Deirdre
Reagan
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:39 PM
To: Rene Stephenson
Cc: Framer's List
Subject: Re: question about usage

Thanks all for the responses about alphanumeric characters and the use
of that terminology.

I get that 123ABC consist of alphanumerical characters.

However, does 123 consist of numerical characters?  I would say it
consists of numbers.

Does ABC consist of alpha characters?  I would say it consists of
letters.

In the documents I am working with, 123 is refered to as numerical
characters and ABC is refered to as alpha characters.

Here's what I'm talking about:

"Move the part numbers that begin with a numerical character to the
end of the list after the part numbers that begin with an alpha
character."

I'm just wondering how widespread this usage is.  Are these terms just
in my documents in my company, and I should make the correction, or do
technical writers the world over use "alpha characters" to refer to
letters and "numerical characters" to refer to numbers?

Thanks!

Deirdre