Some people think a numeric display is more intuitive. But think again.

A hypothetical situation to make the point: 100 bright, monolingual 6 year olds
from 100 countries around the world gather to watch a Pinewood race. The
track is equipped with a seven segment numeric display. What happens?

Only the children from Western cultures are going to figure things out. That is
because there is nothing intuitive about the symbols various cultures have assigned
to their counting systems. Design a display with Thai numeral characters, and only the
native Thai children are going to get it. Same thing with Hebrew. Interestingly, a
Chinese display would be rather easy to learn, if your track has less than four lanes.

Another interesting fact is that we consider our symbols "Arabic", but they do not
resemble at all the symbols on a telephone in Baghdad....but that is another story.

A concept is intuitive if it transcends language or culture. Describing finishing order by
gesturing with fingers IS intuitive. Point to the first car crossing the line, and raise one
finger. The second car gets two fingers, etc. Everyone understands immediately.

It would likewise be intuitive to have a blinking LED display that went BLINK every few
seconds for the Win car, went BLINKBLINK every few seconds for the Place car, and
went BLINKBLINKBLINK every few seconds for the Show car.

But there is not much difference between this and the Pulse Width coding of the
Judge. Once the rule is explained, it sticks with the youngsters. Only the adults who
have spent a lifetime using an arcane counting symbology are apt to have a problem.

The more light, the faster the car.