New Power Casio

[Dave Britten]

(03-17-2015 12:10 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(03-17-2015 11:57 AM)JimP Wrote:  I meant Casio, Sharp, and TI. Not talking about graphing calculators, just scientific ones that are often used in schools and allowed for exams. The HP models are fine but 12C and 17BII+ don't do trig either. The old HP 27 and HP 27S models ("do everything") were on the right track. Just trying to understand why it's not a priority to add the very useful TVM functions to a full-bore scientific non-graphic calculator like the Ti-36X Pro or this new Casio model.

I agree the 27 and 27S were on the right track and it's a shame no mfr followed up with better versions of scientific machines with basic finance support. I imagine the reason is the class of machines you are describing are aimed at High School Math where there is no TVM I'm aware of. I know two HS Math Teachers and have asked about this exact topic, both said there is nothing at all in their (State mandated) curriculum.

US high school math really needs to adopt basic finance as a graduation requirement. Just simple TVMs and amorts would be plenty for most people. It's pretty uncommon for non-finance types to need to solve irregular cash flows (I never have), but your chances of dealing with some kind of annuity are close to 100%. I don't remember doing much with compound interest in high school apart from brief discussion of periodic compounding and continuous compounding with Pe^(rt). We never once did anything with TVM.

I can understand the basic scientifics not wanting to dedicate the large number of keys needed, but the menu-driven models have no excuse. Does the current incarnation of TI-83/84 have finance built in? I'm pretty sure my Casio fx-9860g Slim does, as does my 48GX, and the Equation Library card adds it to the 48SX. Not sure about Sharp, since I've only got a really old grapher with no finance.