Eight-segment display
# Eight-segment display

An eight-segment display is a type of display based on eight segments that can be turned on or off according to the font pattern to be produced.

It is similar to a nine-segment display whose middle vertical bars are vertical, except that on an eight-segment display, the bars F and G are merged.

## Applications

One application was in the Sharp EL-8, an early electronic calculator. The eight-segment display produces more rounded digits than a seven-segment display, yielding a more "script-like" output, with the trade-off that fewer possible alphabetic characters can be displayed because the bars F and G are merged (see table below).

## Displaying

An eight segment display can sometimes display alphabetic characters with less readability because the segments F and G are combined and the corners are rounded. The asymmetrical layout of the elements produced a distinctive "handwritten" digit style, with a half-height "0".

Because of graphical confusion, it is unable to display the following characters:

Characters able to be displayed by a seven-segment display but unable to be displayed by an eight-segment display :

| Script | Characters | Displays as | Displays as |
| - | - | - | - |
| Latin | C, c, d, G, L, N, n, 0, o, r, U, Z, Ə | Characters | What they display as on an eight-segment display |
| Greek | Γ, Ζ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, ο, Π, π | C, [, ( | E |
| Cyrillic | Г, г, д, П, п, Э | c, L, r, г | t |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | d, U | Ɐ |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | G | 6 |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | N, Ν, λ, Π, П | A |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | n, π, п | h |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | o, ο | b |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | Z, Ζ, | e |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | 0, O, Ə, Ο, д | 8 |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | Γ, Г | F |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | Ξ | C̠ |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | Э | 9 |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | " | ˅ |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | ^ | ° |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | - | ` |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | / | µ |
| Others | 0, (, [, ", ^, -, /, ? | ? | P |

## Examples

* Sharp EL-8 with eight-segment displays
* Eight-segment display of the Sharp EL-8
* Eight-segment display displaying an 8
* Eight-segment display displaying a D
