A seven-segment display is a set of seven bar-shaped LED (light-emitting diode) or LCD(liquid crystal display) elements, arranged to form a squared-off figure 8. A few seven-segment displays use other illumination devices, such as incandescent or gas-plasma ("neon") lamps. If all elements are activated, the display shows a numeral 8. When some of the elements are activated but not others, any single-digit numeral from 0 to 9, as well as most uppercase and lowercase letters of the English alphabet, can be portrayed. Seven-segment displays are commonly used in digital clocks, clock radios, timers, wristwatches, and calculators. They can also be found in motor-vehicle odometers, speedometers, radio frequency indicators, and practically any other display that makes use of alphanumeric characters alone (without the need for graphics). Some seven-segment displays produce an "italicized" (slanted) set of characters. Individual seven-segment display packages are available from a variety of vendors. Most take the form of rectangular boxes with protruding pins, with an appearance similar to that of an IC (integrated circuit) package, but larger. Some seven-segment displays include a decimal point (a small, dot-shaped element) to the lower right of the bar-shaped segments, so in fact the face of the package contains eight independent elements. A few seven-segment displays have even more dot-shaped elements to portray time in hour-and-minute format, e.g., 12: 30. Multiple packages can be arranged in a horizontal row to render large decimal numbers, abbreviations, acronyms, and short words. The seven-segment concept is more than a century old. One of the earliest records of its use dates back to an electric power plant in the year 1910. That display comprised a large matrix of incandescent bulbs arranged in seven rows. The bulbs could be switched on and off, row by row, to inform engineers about the condition of the system