Does CFA Institute Not Help w/Learning the Calculators?

Question

I've noticed in my short reading (beginning in Reading 5), that the book never mentions either one of the approved calculators.  I am using one of the older looking TI BAii plus models.  I have done these equations in the past when working on my MBA, but all the books helped me through both the calculations and the calculator.The problem I'm having working through the problems manually  is that the memory functions stink on this calculator and I'm just writing down the individual calculations and entering the results manually into each formula.  With the calculator defaulting to two decimals (which I know I can change), the math is not accurate but just close according to the book's answers.  This seems like a mundane way to do the calculations.  Is anyone else having the same issues and may have found a solution to make it easier? ...and does the CFA Institute books eventually start discussing the calculators and how to use them to our advantage?

WannaBeePM · Answer

Here's the better question...do I really need to remember all the formulas or should I just really know how to use my calculator or some combination of both?Which formulas are negated by knowing how to use the TI baii plus verses remembering formulas?  I'm sure I will still have to remember formulas but why remember all of them if I know how to use my calculator properly.  Hopefully this all makes sense.

vincentt · Answer

Hello @WannaBeePM‌ , learning the BAII Plus calculator isn't hard, sometimes there can be more than 1 approach to get your answer. When you spend more time trial and error with your calculator, you'll find many short cuts, etc.Decimal can be changed in the format button ([2nd] + [.]), I've mine on 5.Regarding your inaccurate answer, if it's just a two decimal difference it's usually down to rounding, sometimes CFAI could be rounding based on 2, 3 or more decimals during the calculation so the results will be different, but usually the answers in the exam are pretty obvious, you will never get something like 12.1234 vs 12.1235.There are 10 memory slots on this calculator, so before you do your calculation you should plan before hand which way would be the best flow for your calculation. For example, 10 / (some complicated formula), instead of calculating the complicated formula then save it into the memory, clear it, start keying in 10 and recall the calculated formula from your memory, what you can do is calculating the complicated formula then divide it by 10 followed by the [1/x] button which swaps the numerator and denominator around.Also, make sure you configure your calculator to use the AOS mode (Algebraic Operating System) and your P/Y.