Nine-segment display

It provides an efficient method of displaying alphanumeric characters.

In some Soviet digital calculators of the 1970s, such as the Elektronika 4-71b, 9-segment displays were used to provide basic alphanumerics and avoid confusions with representing numbers in Soviet postcodes.

The extra two bars were slanted forward, allowing for an appropriate-looking И, and to differentiate the numeral 3 from the letter З.

The Sharp Compet calculator also uses a 9-segment display, allowing a small range of characters and symbols to be used.

[3] They are also used in some Epson Stylus printers, and Newport iSeries digital meters.

More variations
Soviet postcodes : Upper image: preprinted at the bottom left corner of an envelope are six nine-segment grids to be filled with the six digits of the postal code. Bottom image: samples of each digit in the grid format.
7 -, 9-, 14 -, 16 -segment displays shown side by side