Numbers
The number 0 in braille
0 is the number sign followed by the letter j — dots 2, 4 and 5.
Number sign + j
Dots 3-4-5-6, then dots 2-4-5
Why it uses a letter
Zero is the one digit that breaks the obvious pattern. The digits run a=1 through i=9, which uses up the first nine letters, so zero takes the tenth letter, j. That makes it easy to read the j-cell as 10 rather than 0.
0 inside larger numbers
One number sign covers the whole run: 0, 10 and 000 each take one.
0
10
000
0 in everyday writing
| Written | In braille | What the cells do |
|---|---|---|
| 0 June | a space ends the number | |
| 0.5 | a decimal point does not — no second number sign | |
| 0cm | c is a digit letter, so it takes the letter sign — without it these cells read as “03m” | |
| 0kg | k is not a digit letter, so nothing extra is needed |
Braille numbers sets out the rule behind all four.
What is particular to 0
The same cell with no number sign
It is the letter j, and standing alone in a Grade 2 text it is the word “just”. So ⠼⠚ is 0, and ⠚ between two spaces is “just”.
10th
10th is ⠼⠁⠚⠞⠓, with t and h as two separate cells. Elsewhere “th” is one cell, but a contraction may not follow a number (Rules of Unified English Braille 6.5.3).
One dot away, and mirrored
After the number sign, 0 is dots 2-4-5. Add one dot and it is 7 (dots 1-2-4-5). Take one away and it is 9 (dots 2-4). Mirrored left to right it becomes 8 (dots 1-2-5), which is the shape a slate writer punches for it.
0 in braille as an image
Both cells as a picture: the number sign, then the letter j at dots 2-4-5.
