HP 12C Financial Calculator

• Calculator with built-in financial functions and statistics
• Uses Reverse Polish Notation (RPN)
• More than 120 built-in functions, including register-based cash-flow analysis
• 10-character, 1-line LCD display
• Device measures 5.0 x 0.6 x 3.1 inches (WxHxD)

I've been using this calculator so long, over fifteen years, that I can't imagine working without it. When I bought this thing it was alone in the field of financial calculators and the 12C is still the standard by which other calculators are judged. It has become the standard "tool of the trade" for financial professional types. I have a senior position with a leading money management firm and I require all of my financial analysts to learn how to master this tool. Learning to master the functions is like taking a review course in finance. The calculator can be used for a variety of financial functions including calendar (day count), interest, cash flow, IRR, compounding, NPV, standard deviation, weighted average, simple programming and more. The calculator is nearly indestructible which can be very handy when a trade goes against you and the calculator is suddenly flying across a trading room. The calculator has a nice form factor, the buttons are easy to use, it fits in a shirt pocket, and it has an auto shut off for battery conservation.

There are other calculators available from HP such as the 10B for about a third the price and the 17B for about the same price. The 10B is inferior to the 12C and I see little reason to buy it. The 17B has greater functionality than the 12C, but I feel it is harder to master, harder to navigate, and it does not fit in a shirt pocket. However, the 17B does allow users to work in standard algebraic or RPN modes. The 12 works only in RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) which can be difficult to get used to. For example using RPN to add 1 and 2 you enter 1 2 . In simple algebraic notation the key sequence is 1 2 . The difference is that with RPN you enter the operation (plus, minus, etc.) after you enter the values. With simple algebraic you enter the operation between the values.

Overall, this is the "industry standard" calculator for financial professionals and is recommended by AIMR for people taking the CFA exam. I would not recommend this calculator for casual home use as it does take some time to master, but once mastered it is a very powerful tool.

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(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)Calculators may seem a bit "dated" in this age of Palm Pilots and PC's, but when you have to do a lot of calculations and you don't have a spreadsheet on a laptop handy, a good calculator is invaluable.

If you calculate mortgages, compound interest, amortization or any of the common functions in finance on a regular basis, you can't go wrong with this classic calculator, long a standard of the industry. The 120 built-in functions are easy to use and well explained by the manual. Don't see a function you need? You can enter your own mathematical function, too.

If you DON'T do financial calculations regularly, but are in school for anything but science, this is also a great choice. You can even learn a lot about financial calculations just from the manual. (For science students and scientists, HP makes a scientific version calculator with statistical functions instead of financial ones.)

If you are a regular person looking for a calculator, I REALLY recommend this one--we all borrow money (car loans, house mortgages) now and then. And RPN, Reverse Polish Notation is SO logical and easy to use once you practice. (Simply put, to add two plus two = four, you enter 2 [enter], 2+ and the answer is there. VERY fast for long calculations, like balancing a checkbook.)

I find that the horizontal design (wider than long) is extremely comfortable to hold. And the 12C is very rugged. I used to know a guy from HP who was a rep for the calculator division. He'd demo them by slamming the HP12C against the wall, and then daring the rep from the Big Lone Star State Instruments firm to do the same with theirs. No contest.

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This is "the calculator that wouldn't die". There were several other excellent HP calculators in this same series, including the HP-11C and HP-15C (scientific calculators) and the HP-16C (the only Computer Science calculator ever made), all of which shared RPN functionality (think of RPN as an adding machine on steroids), programmability, extremely long battery life (measured in years, not months), a sturdy case and keypad, and the perfect size, weight and ergonomics. Unfortunately, the rest of this line was discontinued by the end of the 80's in favor of fancier models. (I own an HP-11C and an HP-16C as well as an HP-12C; they're all excellent calculators. Used HP-16C models often sell for more than the original list price, they're in such demand.)

So why is the HP-12C still around, virtually unchanged from its introduction in the 80's? Because Finance people are VERY conservative, and they just kept buying the 12C because that's what their mentors used, that's what classes were teaching with, and that's where the most help and information is available. They simply ignored newer, fancier models of financial calculators because the 12C already worked so well that nobody needed or wanted anything better! Sure, they're imported these days instead of being made in the USA as the original units were, but the design is unchanged. The packaging has changed, but the user manual has not.

This calculator is a classic, destined to remain with us for many years...

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I have used (and own) many of the available financial calculators on the market. I own and occasionally use a Hewlett-Packard 12C, but would "recommend" the HP-10B to my university finance students, both graduate and undergraduate, as well as to finance professionals. For non-professionals or for just run-of-the-mill arithmetic calculations there is no question, this is too much calculator.

HP makes the best products on the market for financial calculators; better than TI's and far superior to the Casio. The HP 12C is an older (ca. 1980's) model calculator which was a directly positioned competitor to the TI MBA, but HP's entry was far superior. The keys feel more solid, the machine itself "seems" better made, and the replaceable batteries were much better and lighter than the TI's rechargeable. So, TI gave up on this competition. Now, HP has cannibalized its own line with a superior product at a lower cost.

Having worn out more than one of each, my experience has been that the HP 10B offers everything needed for the serious finance student, at just over half the price.

The HP 10B, as well the 12C, have well written manual manuals, including examples on using the functions. HP has the manuals available on-line on their website for the inevitable time that the user needs it and has lost the original.

While there are cheaper financial calculators, it seems that the HP 10B level is the minimum I would recommend to professionals or students. Less expensive versions, while saving a few dollars, miss important features. As a general rule of thumb, if the calculator can perform the "IRR" function, as the the 12C and 10B can, it will be able to handle pretty much any calculation into which the finance student, professonal, or banker will run. Lesser machines do not have this function, which enables analysis of variable cash flows.

Ironically, the larger fancier calculators, such as the venerable HP-12C, are in my estimation inferior. The 12C uses RPN logic which, while saving keystrokes, is simply foreign to most students. More importantly, some functions, such as the Time Value of Money functions, on the 12C require interpretation. On the 12C, for example, solving for the number of periods in an annuity, the value gets rounded UP to the next integer.

While the 12C is a very powerful machine, and certainly deserves some points for "style," it is not the best value in financial calculators. It may be time, after almost 30 years, to relegate this one to the museum in favor of its more powerful and less expensive cousins.

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The HP 12C calculator is the perfect combination of techne and erte, both form and function. A timeless classic that I am sure my own children will use.

This is the world's longest in production, best selling, and best and most robust financial calculator, and there is a reason. Look past the retro cool look and design, and don't smirk when you see this on the desk of 40, 50, and even 60 year-old finance executives: the long enduring market for this calculator is not a market anomaly. The HP 12-C is successful because it is very very good at what it does.

The HP 12-C offers 120 built-in functions which are easy to use and well explained by the manual. You can enter your own functions (yes, the Black-Scholes equation will just fit into it). In addition, if you are a finance neophyte you can learn a lot about financial calculations just from using this calculator and reading the manual.

If you are a regular joe or jane looking for a calculator, I also recommend the HP 12C, since everyone is doing financial calculations all the time in real life (or you should learn!), we all borrow money or invest, or write checks, or charge something on a charge card. Learn to use the stack registers, and you need never balance your checkbook again.

The horizontal design (wider than long) is logical, fits your hand better, and is extremely comfortable. More calculators should be laid out this way.

But the absolute top feature is that this calculator was precisely engineered to give excellent tactile feedback when you enter data or functions. The keys have a firm resistance that gives just the right amount of signal so that you *k*n*o*w* you have entered the data. If you've ever used a calculator, you know that the worst thing is to miss a keystroke by pressing too lightly or not firmly enough. This error is nearly impossible with the HP 12C.

One caveat: the calculator is in RPN, Reverse Polish Notation, not the more familiar algebraic notation. RPN is logical and easy to use once you practice, but it can be a bit tricky to discard algebraic habits. There is a learning curve with this calculator.

The HP 12C is very rugged, for this is a highly engineered product. You can, quite literally, throw it against the wall, and pick it up and it still works. You cannot do that with the competing Texas Instruments model. Battery life is long, but I find it a bit hard some times to find the replacements (check the `hearing aid batteries' section in stores).