Nimble Numbers - Update

Stenography is full of exciting discoveries. In this case, my discovery was how hard it was to change 3 years of learning the original steno numbering system. Sigh. I've taken the Nimble Number System and converted it for use with the original 4 numbers. Nimble's system was more efficient, but I've had to take the less painful route because I'm a wimp. So be it.

The Nimble Number system v2 is now available to any Plover user on any Plover-compatible keyboard of the classic Ireland 23- key layout.

The classic stenography numbering system uses: STPH- for 1, 2, 3, and 4; -FPLT for 6, 7, 8, and 9; and AO- for 5 and 0. You can create a number of arbitrary length, as long as that number is in steno order. At some point, someone introduced the idea of adding -EU to any pair of numbers to reverse them. So, using classic steno, you can write any 2-digit number and several longer numbers if you're lucky. It was always a fun game to see how few strokes you could use to type a long number. With some cleverness, you could often find a 3-digit or even 4-digit single stroke.

Nimble's system is superior. He uses STPH-in combinations to create every digit from 0-9. That's the best thing about his system. The counting numbers to 9 are all on the left hand. Beyond that, though, he then replicates the pattern on -FPLT to make a 2-digit number, on -RBGS to make a 3rd digit, and on SKWR- to make a fourth digit. That's sweet. And for one more great piece of goodness, he uses AOEU to add marks like the $ and %. I don't actually know what the combinations are he uses, but I didn't let a little thing like complete ignorance slow me down. I've created my own.

AOEU can create 16 combinations, so I've created the ability to add 16 decorations: $, ., :, -, (), and / in several different forms. You can now single-stroke $12.34, (1234), 18:00, and 12.34%. Granted, they're all finger-twisters, but you don't have to start to that way. I'm certainly not.

I'm getting used to the idea by working mostly with 1 and 2 digit numbers. They're pretty easy. I'm also getting up to speed pretty quickly on IP addresses, which use some 3-digit numbers. 3 is not too hard. I do have to say, the 4-digit numbers are very hard because I had to compromise the S- key. The original system relied on the S- being split into two keys. I could not do that. Instead, wherever you would hit the lower S-, you have to hit the *. It's a sad accommodation, but it still leaves those numbers available to me if I ever find one I need to use a lot.

So, the dictionary comes with 3 Help Strokes. Hit #-F, #-P, and #-L to see the following 3 bits of detailed help:

I need to improve this, but I'll put it out here now as a full disclosure thing.

#-F
....Writing Nimble Numbers
....How to stroke the numbers 0-14
...H 4 
..P. 3 
.T.. 2 
S... 1 
..PH 7 
.TP. 6 
ST.. 5 
.TPH 9 
STP. 8 
STPH 0 
S..H 10 
.T.H 12 
S.P. 11 
S.PH 14 
ST.H 13


#-P
....Nimble Numbers Table of Possibility
....Single stroke 1, 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers with all modifiers
---
- Bare number
.... 3 32 321 3217 
- Leading decimal
.O.. .3 .32 .321 .3217 
- Central decimal
.OE. .3 3.2 3.21 32.17 
- $ alone
A... $3 $32 $321 $3217 
- $ with central decimal
AOE. $.30 $3.20 $3.21 $32.17 
- Trailing colon
..E. 3: 32: 321: 3217: 
- O'clock
AO.U 3:00 32:00 321:00 3217:00 
- Trailing hyphen
A..U 3- 32- 321- 3217- 
- Negative as -
AO.. -3 -32 -321 -3217 
- Leading (
A.E. (3 (32 (321 (3217 
- Negative as()
A.EU (3) (32) (321) (3217) 
- Trailing )
..EU 3) 32) 321) 3217) 
- Percent symbol
...U 3% 32% 321% 3217% 
- Percent with central decimal
.OEU .3% 3.2% 3.21% 32.17% 
- Trailing /
AOEU 3/ 32/ 321/ 3217/

#-L
....Writing Several Nimble Numbers
....How to stroke 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers
The first digit of any number is typed on the STPH- keys
The second digit of any number is typed on the -FPLT keys
The third digit of any number is typed on the -RBGS keys
The fourth digit of any number is typed on the -*KWR keys
The fourth digit is a mess. Sorry. The S- could not be reused
so substitute the * for the S-, so it's out of sequence

so substitute the * for the S-, so it's out of sequence

To download and play with the dictionary, click here:
Nimble Numbers 2
To download and use the Nimble Numbers system with the single command dictionary, click here:
Nimble Single Stroke Commands 2