the financial function keys
The basic financial calculator is built on my free
RPN calculator. So it has the same reliable five-function capability that
is built into the free calculator.
Using this calculator, you will be able to
- calculate the number of payments in a loan or ordinary annuity,
- determine interest rates on loans and rates of return on investments,
- solve for the amount of payments on loans or investment plans, and
- determine present and future values of cash payments or ordinary annuities.
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If you're not familiar with RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) calculators,
you'll need to scan over my RPN calculator tutorial
to learn the basics of how to perform simple arithmetic on this calculator.
When you take a look at the keys of the basic financial calculator, you'll
notice that the lower four rows of keys are the same nineteen keys that are
on the free RPN calculator. The difference is the top row of keys. The
five buttons in the top row of the keyboard are the controls for the financial
registers.
The Financial Registers
The five financial function keys are
| N | Number of periods |
| I | periodic Interest rate |
| PV | Present Value |
| PMT | periodic PayMenT, and |
| FV | Future Value |
Each of the five financial function keys controls one of the five
financial registers of the calculator and serves two purposes:
- enter the value of a financial parameter into the calculator, and
- command the calculator to solve for an unknown financial parameter.
The basic strategy for solving financial problems is to enter a value into
four of the five financial registers and then tell the calculator to solve for
the fifth parameter.
On the next page of this tutorial, we'll learn
how to insert values into the financial
registers.
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