system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are AA and AAA batteries in remotes and other electronic devices typically placed alternately/in opposite directions of each other? Why isn't the standard for them to always be facing nipple up (as In the case of the apple magic mouse)?
gpt
In most appliances, batteries have to be wired in series. This allows the appliance to use a voltage of all the voltages of the individual batteries added up (e.g. three 1.5 V batteries in series provide a voltage of 4.5 V).

To wire batteries in series, the + pole of one battery should be connected to the - pole of the next.

The easiest way to achieve that in a battery compartment is by having the + side of one battery directly adjacent to the - side of the other. This reduces the amount of wiring needed to connect battery terminals.

Devices that take all batteries facing the same way either wire the batteries in parallel, which means they operate on the same voltage as a single battery, or they have extra wiring to connect + and - terminals of adjacent batteries.