Which Financial calculator is advisable to use in CFA exam? 1) TI BA-II Plus 2) Hewlett Packard 12C Any pros or cons? Which 1 is more popular?
> 1) TI BA-II Plus Works like a scientific calculator u used at school. Pick up and play. Cheaper. > 2) Hewlett Packard 12C Reverse Polish notation (you need to learn how to input the keystrokes) Looks cool and more professional. All the old school bankers have these. choose which one suits you, not which one is more popular. If you are rushed for time, and have no time or motivation to learn a new calculator input method, go with the TI.
There are numerous threads on this topic. I recommend performing a Search in this Forum and that way you can make a decision. Personally, I bought the HP 12C for the exam. I am an Economics major and Economics/Finance at my school meant using an HP (I used the 17B). TI was for the Engineering folks. But that’s just my personal preference.
Really, would it be possible to prevent new topics on calculators? Read the rules and do a search. It has been covered countless times. And wilier it your review of the 12-c reads like the leveragedsellout.com…
If there is any time of the year when discussing financial calculators is OK, I guess discussing calculators in the Level I forum in July is OK. I use HP12C Platinum. It’s reliable.
brianr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Really, would it be possible to prevent new topics > on calculators? Read the rules and do a search. It > has been covered countless times. > > And wilier it your review of the 12-c reads like > the leveragedsellout.com… it was slightly tongue in cheek
HP 12-C Emulator in Javascript: http://epx.com.br/ctb/hp12c.php I like to have both, and here’s why: Once you get used to the RPN, the HP12-C is faster, and of higher quality. I like that there is a distinctive ‘click’ felt when the keys are pressed, unlike the BA-II that has a cheaper overall look and feel in my opinion. However, for the exam, I would bring both calculators. If asked a combination or permutation problem, the HP only has a factorial key (no built-in nCr or nPr function), so having the BA-II keeps eliminates the need to memorize those formulas.
I have both and I think either is fine. The BAII Pro is much better than the regular BAII and it feels well-constructed with that same click feel to the buttons. I used the BAII Pro for L1 but I’m planning on using the 12C PAE going forward simply because of reasons that willier mentioned. functionally though, i actually think the baii pro is better than the 12c. it’s faster. it has a couple more useful cfa functions such as nCr, nPr, and DPB. either way you go, it will not affect your scores or studying. just pick one or both.