Frequently Asked Questions about

Calculators
Calculators are useful, but can behave in unexpected ways (at least if, like me, you don't
like reading the instructions first). Here are some questions that people often have. I'm
just starting this list, and only really know (some of) the idiosyncrasies of the HP-12C. If
you have a question that is not addressed here, whether about the 12C or any other
calculator, feel free to send me email and if it's something that comes up often enough I'll
add it to this list.

HP-12C Questions
1. Why does my calculator only show two decimal places?
2 is the default precision, but it can be changed. If you want 4 decimal places, type [f] 4.
For maximum precision, type [f] 9.
2. I press the same buttons as you do, but get a different answer!
Do you have the word "BEGIN" showing in your display? This is a bad thing. It means
that when you do calculations using the [PV], [PMT], [n] etc. buttons, the calculator will
assume that the periodic payments occur at the beginning of each period (so the first
payment is right now), rather than at the end of each period (i.e. first payment is one
period from today), which is the usual assumption. This will change all your results.
If you have the word "BEGIN" displayed, you should get rid of it by pressing [g] [END]
(under the "8" key).
3. I tried that, and I still get different answers
If you cleared the calculator before starting by pressing the clear button, [CLX], this only
clears the display. The last values you used for [PV], [PMT], etc. are still there, and can
affect your calculations.
The safest thing is to press [f] [REG] (above the [CLX] button), which clears everything.
You can probably get away with [f] [FIN] (above the [x<->y] button), which (I think)
clears the financial registers, but not all the numbers you've put into, for example,
memory location 0.
4. HELP! My calculator has switched "," and ".", so, for example, 1,000.23 appears
as "1.000,23"
First turn off the calculator. Now press the "." button, and while keeping it pressed turn
the calculator back on. You'll be back to normal.

5a. How do I do calculations using the [PV] etc. buttons and fractional periods?
Should I ever do such calculations?
5b. What's that letter "C" in my display?
Suppose we want to calculate the present value of $100 to be received in 1.5 years, with
an (annual) interest rate of 10%. Try:
100 [FV]
10 [i]
1.5 [n]
[PV]
You will (probably) get a PV of $86.58. This is equal to
100 / (1.10 x 1.05)
By default, the HP-12C uses simple interest on the fractional period. In other words, in
the extra 6 month period, it discounts at 5% (= 10% / 2), rather than the true 6 month rate
of (1.1)0.5 - 1 = 4.88%
You were probably hoping for the answer $86.68 (= 100 / 1.11.5). You can get the
calculator to do this. Press [STO] [EEX] (obvious, huh?), and you'll see the letter "C"
appear in your display. Now redo the calculation, and you'll get the behavior you want.
HOWEVER, I recommend that you just don't do calculations with fractional periods, at
least on the 12C. Ever... To see why, suppose you've just pressed [STO] [EEX], so the
calculator will correctly discount using the true annual interest rate for the entire period.
Now try:
0 [FV]
10 [PMT]
10 [i]
1.5 [n]
[PV]
Before doing the calculation, what do you expect the answer to be?
Here's how I reasoned: We're calculating the present value of a stream of payments of
$10 per period, and there are 1.5 periods until maturity. There are thus two remaining
payments, one 6 months from today, and the other 18 months from today. The answer
should be 10 / 1.1.5 + 10 / 1.11.5 = $18.20.
I was wrong...

The answer it gives is $8.67. This equals 10 / (1.11.5). In other words, the calculator
assumes we receive the payment in 18 months, but do not receive the payment in 6
months. I have no idea why, but based on this behavior I recommend that you only do
calculations with whole numbers of periods.
In the last example, switching to a 6 month time period produces its own problems, as we
can't use the [PMT] button any more (since the calculator would then assume one $10
payment every 6 months). One solution is to use the [CF0], [CFj] buttons instead, though
this would also get tedious if there were a lot of payments. Probably the best solution is to
do the calculation in 2 steps. First calculate the PV as if we had done the calculation 6
months ago. This is easy, as there were exactly 2 years to maturity then, so we don't have
to worry about fractional years. Next, multiply the result by 1.10.5, which is how much
this PV would have grown by if you'd left it in the bank for 6 months:
0 [FV]
10 [PMT]
10 [i]
2 [n]
[PV]
So far we've got $17.36, the present value as of 6 months ago. Now:
1.1 [ENTER]
0.5 [yx] x
and we get the (correct) result, $18.20.
6. I get "Error 3" when I try to calculate an IRR. Now what?
This means either that there are no possible values for the IRR, which there's not much
you can do about, or that there are several possible values and the calculator doesn't know
which one to return. You can tell it to try the IRR calculation again, starting with a
particular guess, by typing the guess followed by [RCL] [PSE] (under the [R/S] key).
Different guesses may return different IRR values.
7. How do I get every bit of the display to switch on simultaneously?
(This is not all that useful, but I discovered it by accident and thought you ought to
know.)
Switch off the calculator, press the "+" key, and while keeping it pressed turn the
calculator back on. The calculator will do something (I've no idea what...) for a very long
time, with "Running" flashing in the display. I'm not sure what it's doing, or if it will ever
stop of its own accord, but if you press lots of keys it will eventually stop flashing, and
every possible line and symbol in the display will be switched on.

HP-17B Questions
1. Why does my calculator only show two decimal places?
To get maximum precision, press [DSP], then select ALL.