BA II Plus calculator issue

[Branislav]

Dear colleagues,
This is dummy question so was not sure where to put it..when I enter on mine BA II Plus calculator ( by this order):7%+6% = I am receiving 0.0742? Please advice to whom to contact regarding this since it is time wasting issue stopping me in question set working! Thanks a lot in advance

 

[David Harper CFA FRM]

Hi @Branislav It's not dummy at all. The calculator is giving you 7% + 6% of 0.070 = 0.070 + 0.060*0.070 = 0.0742 or 7.42%. I guess it's supposed to be easier for sales tax applications etc, but I never understood it because the second ("%") is reaching back before the "+". Somebody probably knows how to use the "%" key but I AVOID it entirely for this reason (even parenthesis do not do what I expect here). If I want 7% + 6%, the I use: .06 + .07. (you could do 7 % STO 1, 6 % STO 2, then RCL 1 + RCL 2, but that feels like too much trouble). Sorry I don't know a better approach ....

(btw, I just tested switching the calculation method from Chain to AOS, and the result is the same, so this is not a "solution" ... so I personally cannot find a use for the "%" keystroke ...)

 

[Branislav]

Dear David thanks a lot for fast and gelpful answer!

 

[valente.davide311+gmail.com]

Hi guys,

I m typing a very long formula with many exp, sq roots and brackets. I need to see/keep the whole formula on the screen in order to check potential manual errors (i.e + instead of *).

Could anyone help on this topic?

B-plan is to use STO / RCL features.

Thanks a lot and best,

Davide

 

[Detective]

I do not think you can. This is one of the main reasons I dislike these financial calculators (whereas it is possible using graphing calculators). You will have to go with plan B.

There is also some setting where you can basically tell the financial calculator to honor the order of operations that I would recommend turning on (it should be discussed in one of the pinned videos on this subforums, probably the "essentials" one).