What are 3 1/2 digit and 4 1/2 digit displays?

You've probably heard the terms 3 1/2 digit and 4 1/2 digit displays, and wondered what they mean. After all, how can you have half a digit? This article explains ...

Look at the digital readout below...

It can be used to show values from -1999 to 1999, and can include a decimal point, by lighting up the red segments, to suit the number you want.

If you count the number of segment connections to each digit, you'll see that the 1st has only 4 wires, because there are only 4 segments.

The other digits have 8 wires (Although we often refer to these as '7 segment' displays, if you include the decimal point, there are really 8 segments)

We say that the left hand digit is only half a digit, as it has half the number of segment connections of a full digit.

Here's a 3 1/2 digit display...


A 4 1/2 digit display simply has one more full digit, which allows it to show values from -19999 to 19999

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