#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR MANUAL#
#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR CODE#
#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR SERIES#

The iPhone version is actually a bit better than just a clone of the original, though, because HP includes a simplified portrait-mode calculator (the 12C is a landscape-mode device).

#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR CODE#

It not only looks the same, but it actually runs the same code as do the physical calculators. The iPhone version of the HP-12C is a near carbon copy of the actual machine. If youвЂ™ve not used this method of data entry before, youвЂ™ll have a bit of learning to do.) (Keep in mind, too, that these HP calculators use Reverse Polish Notation, or RPN, for data entry. If youвЂ™re looking for a general use calculator, PCalc ( ) is a a much better solution. Note that the HP-12C (and other HP calculators) appeal to a fairly narrow range of users-financial professionals (12C and 12C Platinum) and programmers and scientists (15C). (I still have the original OwnerвЂ™s Handbook and Problem-Solving Guide, too-all 246 pages of it!) Suffice it to say, I know this calculator inside and out, though it doesnвЂ™t get as much use now as it did in my prior life. Though IвЂ™ve long since lost the receipt, my HP-12C is approaching its 25th anniversary, and it still runs just as well today as it did when brand new. WhatвЂ™s most amazing about this is that IвЂ™m not talking about a progression of different HP-12Cs IвЂ™m talking about one HP-12C that is probably older than a fair percentage of the people reading this article. From tests during undergraduate school up through my career change in 2005 to full-time Macworld employee, my HP-12C was with me every step of the way. Through it all, one particular piece of gear was always at my side, ready and willing to help with the trickiest of financial calculations: my Hewlett-Packard HP-12C financial calculator.

Introduced: 1981 and still in production.Back in my previous life, I was a finance guy-thatвЂ™s what my undergraduate degree is in, and thatвЂ™s how I made my living for many years. The calculator survived the hippo's digestive process as well as the washing that followed. The zoo keeper dropped the calculator and it was consumed by a hippopotamus. Tough construction: One HP-12C was used by a zoo keeper to calculate feed mixtures.(The record so far is 22 years on the original set of batteries and that sample is still running!)

#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR SERIES#

And like all 10C series models, it has the advantage of running for months to years instead of hours on a set of batteries.

#USE HP 12C FINANCIAL CALCULATOR MANUAL#

A much larger manual with useful chapters on real estate, lending, investing, leasing, savings and bonds.

Improved action of SST and BST features.

Odd period calculations (allowing interest to accrue for some arbitrary amount of time before the first payment.).

While low in product number, the HP-12C was high (for its time) in functionality making it a good replacement for the previous high end business model, the HP-38C.

Perhaps it really does provide just the right functions in the right form factor at the right price.

It has become part of the well-dressed business uniform - easily distinguished from cheap calculators due to its layout.

Like all 10C series calculators, it has a nice solid built-like-a-brick feel that clamshell models can't quite match.

The average business buyer, is perhaps, less inclined to read the spec sheets and more inclined to buy based on word of mouth.

(Old business models out-selling new ones is not entirely unique to the HP-12C.)

Business buyers are somewhat conservative.

The HP-17B and 19B were algebraic calculators that were rather quickly replaced by BII versions with optional RPN.

It's a pure RPN calculator with no algebraic options to confuse the buyer or user.

Why does it continue to sell so well? Here are a few theories: In fact, an EduCALC catalog says of the HP 17BII (in bold type): 'It's 15 times faster than the HP 12C, and displays more than 4 times as much information.' And of the HP 19BII: 'It's 15 times faster than the HP 12C, and displays more than 9 times as much information.' In addition, both newer calculators can print via infrared to compact printers, have more memory, general purpose solvers, menus etc. Though it has been followed by many newer models, with both more and less features this model continues to sell well. The HP-12C is HP's longest and bestselling calculator.

Use hp 12c financial calculator