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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments €-1796

Date of introduction:	2000	Display technology:	LCD
New price:		Display size:	10
Size:	5.7" x 4.3" x 1.0" 145 x 109 x 25 mm³
Weight:	3.9 ounces, 111 grams	Serial No:
Batteries:	LR54	Date of manufacture:	mth 06 year 2001
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	China (N)
Precision:	10	Integrated circuits:
Memories:	1
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

The €-1796 calculator combines the usual desktop basic calculator functions with a very convenient Euro currency conversion. All of the 11 defined exchange rates are preprogrammed in the calculator, 4 additional ones could be added at a later time. The home country is selected with the Select-key. Two additional keys allow the conversion in both directions. A similar calculator in a smaller housing was introduced with the €-2001.

A simpler calculator was sold with the €-2002+, an enhanced calculator with the €-2003. In non-EU countries the TI-1796SV was sold instead.

If you visited in the 2000-2003 timeframe the Texas Instruments website for educational products you should have noticed the €-1796 in a white housing like the TI-1796SV. It seems to be a mockup but the first prototypes of the €-1796 sported indeed an off white to gray housing.

In 2006 Texas Instruments surprised customers in Europe with a complete new family of Euro Calculators labeled EC-3, EC-5 and EC-7 Pro.

The Euro (€)

An expert group of the European Community (EC) started in the year 1994 to set up plans to use in the near future a single currency, the Euro. The report proposed to introduce the Euro in three phases:

• In May 1998, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Maastricht Treaty, the countries, which were to take part in the first wave of the EMU (European Monetary Union), were announced.

• On January 1^st, 1999, EMU will effectively start among the countries concerned, with the rates of conversion between the Euro and the participating currencies being irrevocably fixed.

• On January 1^st, 2002, the introduction of the new bank notes and coins will signal the final conversion to the Euro as the single currency of the countries taking part in EMU.

The reason for calculators like the €-line from Texas Instruments is that the Euro was formed by merging eleven national currencies at fixed exchange rates on 1.1.1999. They will persist in visible form (notes and coins) for three years until the final changeover on 1 January 2002. Therefore conversions between national currencies in the Euro are not like normal exchange rates with variable rates; they are simply a different measurement of the same underlying entity, just like pounds and kilogrammes are different scales of measurement of weight. They have fixed six-digit conversion rates (not "exchange" rates). And because of the three-year transition period, economic entities must be able to handle both kinds of money from those they deal with.

Currency Table of the €-1796 calculator

1€ =	Icon	Currency	Country
40.3399	BEF	Belgian Franc	Belgium
1.95583	DEM	Deutsche Mark	Germany
166.386	ESP	Peseta	Spain
6.55957	FRF	French Franc	France
0.787564	IEP	Irish Pound	Ire
1936.27	ITL	Italian Lira	Italy
40.3399	LUF	Luxemburg Franc	Luxembourg
2.20371	NLG	Dutch Gilder	Netherland
13.7603	ATS	Austrian Schilling	Austria
200.482	PTE	Portuguese Escudo	Portugal
5.94573	FIM	Fin Mark	Finland
	CC1	Reserved for the other
	CC2	countries in EC not taking
	CC3	part of the EMU
	CC4

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.