" can't you use the numbers on the row above QWERTYUIOP?"
No.
On a laptop you can use the Numlock key, and then use the numbers that are on the letter keys, but you can't use the number keys along the top!
'Insert Symbol' is not available in all Applications e.g. Wordpad, Notepad, Internet browsers etc.
The use of the Alt + number sequence has its roots firmly in the days before Microsoft Windows was invented / around i.e good old DOS (Disk Operating System) days for those that can remember (the numbers are ASCII codes (American Standard Code for Information Interchange. I know all sounds boring!) ).
Note that also that the number sequence must be typed on the Numeric Keypad.
For those that are using Windows 7, a sort of insert symbol is available by:
- Click Windows Start icon,
- then in the Search window bar type and enter the word Characters,
- then select 'Character Map' where a list of lots of special character symbols will appear with an advanced selection option available.
- Select and copy the symbol required and paste into the desired application.
For the quarter sign, hold down the ALT key and type 172 on the NUMERIC keyboard , on the right.
For the half sign, hold down ALT and type 171 on NUMERIC keyboard.
For three quarters, hold down ALT and type 243 on NUMERIC keyboard.
For the EURO sign, hold down the ALT GR key and type 4, but this time it's the 4 on the top row, NOT the numeric keyboard.
Incidentally, none of these work on Answerbank, or I'd have used them.