Tradeoff in the context of "Seven-segment display"

A seven-segment display is a display device for digits and some letters. It is often used in a device to display numbers – for example in a digital clock or calculator. To a lesser extent, but still common, it is used to display alphanumeric information. Since a seven-segment display tends to be less expensive than a display that can better represent any character and even a graphic image such as a dot matrix display, the design choice to use a seven-segment display is a tradeoff to minimize cost over providing richer functionality.