Brazilian model flummoxes calc fans
For most of us, a calculator might have been superseded by Excel or an app on a phone, yet there remains a die-hard contingent with a passion for the push-button marvels. So the shocking discovery of an apparently rogue HP-12C has sent tremors through the calculator aficionado world.
The HP-12C [PDF] is a remarkably long-lived financial calculator from Hewlett-Packard (HP). It first appeared in 1981 and has continued in production ever since, with just the odd tweak here and there to its hardware.
A sibling, the HP-12C Platinum, was introduced in 2003, which added to the functionality but retained the gloriously late ’70s / early ’80s aesthetic of the range. According to The Museum of HP Calculators, «While similar in appearance and features it appears to be a complete reimplementation by an OEM (Kinpo) based on scans of HP manuals provided by the museum.»
Above: The older model of the original Hewlett-Packard 12C financial calculator (still in production) and below: The sibling HP-12C Platinum.
Financial calculators are not to be confused with scientific calculators and perform functions specific to the financial world, such as solving Time Value Money (TVM) unknowns. The HP-12C line is one of only two calculator models permitted to be used in Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams alongside Texas Instruments’ BA II Plus.
It is, however, with TVM solving that the veteran calculator appears to have come unstuck. Enter Duncan Murray, who found himself at both the sharp end of a fixed-rate mortgage deal coming to an end and enduring the short-lived UK premiership of Liz Truss. For ReasonsTM, Murray suddenly developed a keen interest in financial calculations.
He told us: «I didn’t really get the financial calculators – I thought they were deliberately special-use calculators for a particular market.
