* Human Fingertip Sensitivity: The human fingertip has the highest concentration of sensory receptors, allowing for a high level of tactile discrimination. Six dots, arranged in a rectangular pattern, can be easily distinguished by the fingertips.
* Efficiency and Simplicity: Braille is a code, and each dot represents a letter or part of a word. Six dots were enough to create a system that could represent all the letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks, and common words. Adding more dots would have made the system too complex and difficult to learn.
* Adaptability to Existing Methods: Braille was inspired by Charles Barbier's "night writing," a system designed for military use. Barbier's system used 12 dots, but Braille found that a six-dot system was more practical and efficient.
It's worth noting that six dots provide a surprising amount of flexibility for Braille. By strategically using different combinations of dots, Braille can represent letters, numbers, punctuation, and even musical notation.
Essentially, six dots represented the perfect balance between complexity and usability, allowing Braille to create a simple yet powerful system that has empowered millions of blind people to read and write.