I'm not a collector (yet :-) but plan to buy a 15c LE for personal daily use. I heard (here in the forum) there seem to be two versions released: An U.S. and an European version, with slightly different model numbers (#B1S = Europe, #ABA = U.S.).

Are those models physically the same? Or are there really some differences on the hardware? I'm thinking of the differences in comma/dot notation, e.g. in The U.S. you seem to write: 1,000,000.1234 - while in Europe you write 1'000'000.1234

I'm not sure if even the original 15c had different comma/dot notation? Perhaps some owners of the original one could shed some light?

kind regards, Michael

You can toggle comma/dot digit separator on HP-15c. Turn calculator off, than press and hold "ON", press ".", release "ON" than release ".". This will switch comma to dot or vice versa.

Edited: 9 Sept 2011, 6:55 a.m.

At least in Germany one would write 1.000.000,1234 .

The only place I saw those separator ticks (') before were in the Aurora FN1000, a 12C clone from the far east.

Ray

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At least in Germany one would write 1.000.000,1234 .

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It's the same in France

, (or space) for. and . for ,

1 000 000,1234


1.000.000,1234

I've never see a ' for thousand and others 10^3 separators

Edited: 9 Sept 2011, 8:19 a.m.

Oh, great - so I could adjust comma representation. So I guess I'm going to buy the calculator in the U.S. :-)

I didn't know that there are so many differences and I double checked, it seems even in Europe itself there are "separator" differences, e.g.:

Germany: 100.000
France: 100 000
Switzerland: 100'000

At least that's how my computer represents large numbers if I change the locale.

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I'm not a collector (yet :-) but plan to buy a 15c LE for personal daily use. I heard (here in the forum) there seem to be two versions released: An U.S. and an European version, with slightly different model numbers (#B1S = Europe, #ABA = U.S.).

Are those models physically the same? Or are there really some differences on the hardware? I'm thinking of the differences in comma/dot notation, e.g. in The U.S. you seem to write: 1,000,000.1234 - while in Europe you write 1'000'000.1234

I'm not sure if even the original 15c had different comma/dot notation? Perhaps some owners of the original one could shed some light?

kind regards, Michael

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The models are physically the same.

For many years, this localization caused a lot of grief. You couldn't enter numbers comfortably on the numeric pad, as several programs (AutoCAD, Java programs, Statistica and so on) simply didn't accept the comma. Plain horror. Even worser was that Excel didn't store formulas as meta data, so exchanging them was at least problematic (e.g., arguments were seperated by a semicolon instead of a comma).

A few things have changed, but it's not over yet. Europeans are still paying the price for giving away all chances from their invention of the computer.

BTW, anyone knows how to comfortably swap the decimal point (and only it) on Win7? ;^)

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Are those models physically the same?

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But the height and depth are the same?

I found myself LOL at your post and could not resist a response.

Edited: 9 Sept 2011, 11:55 a.m.

To change decimal symbol in Windows 7, open Control Panel, select Region and Language, on Formats tab click Additional settings... and change Decimal symbol as needed (you can type any character there).

Vladan

It's an old joke. I couldn't help myself.

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1 000 000,123 4 is even more common but does not help on an LCD display.

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Oh yes, five Royal British thumbs ;-/

Thanks, Vladan. I'd have never guessed I can type in anything here (drop-down box shows the comma only). However, it doesn't change keyboard layout :-(.

And moving outside of Europe, the Japanese language wants digits separated into groups of four not three. But AFAIK not even Japanese calcs like Casios have a mode for this.