Calculator Envy

There was a time when the financial calculator was an essential business tool. No self respecting finance person was without one, particularly if you studied finance in college at any level. Even accounting majors had to get one for their Finance 101 course. Over the years I noticed something about financial calculators- there are two types of financial calculator types. Prior to around 1990, most people learned how to use an HP 12C model. The HP 12C is immediately identifiable by its “landscape style” orientation and gold/brass colored screen area.

The old school calculator, the HP 12C

In visiting thousands of financial execs over the years, this was pretty much the only calculator I saw on their desks. That’s because most were at least a few years older than me, learned to use this one in school and used it ever since. Once in a long while, and exec would be about my age and had an HP 10B. Upon spotting one, I immediately established some rapport with the exec on account of the fact that I’m a huge 10B fan. You see, I went to school just about the time everyone changed over to 10B’s and only the professor had a 12C.

Actually, there were always a few students that got 12Cs. These were not your brightest students. They got 12C’s figuring since the prof had one, they must either be somehow superior or at the very least, would earn some brownie points with the prof. In reality, these students were the duller bulbs in the chandelier because neither assumption proved true. The 12C is a relic based on using “reverse polish notation” (RPN). RPN is how early computers and adding machines worked- a hold over from the old accounting days. I always found RPN cumbersome, counter-intuitive and error-prone. Why beat a counter-intuitive notation in your head if you don’t have to? I’m a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel.

All this is a nice, charming history of a dead or dying tool, you might be thinking. I was bored by stories of slide rules too. But financial calculators are not slide rules just yet. Yes, online calculators, spreadsheets and even the $10 financial calculator app on my iPhone are close substitutes. But they aren’t the same. The old handheld is still superior is a few ways: First, it is always open, on and ready to go. No finding the app and launching it first. Just pick it up and go. Second, it is faster. I’ve been using my 10B for 20 years. Complex financial calculations can be done with my eyes closed in seconds. I’ll be done by the time you locate the right function in Excel. Much of it is done by subconcious feel – like touch typing. This is why finance geeks and engineers are often very attached to their calculators. Try studying for an exam without an intimate familiarity with the basics of calculating the answers.

That familiarity, speed and accuracy (no menu’s to navigate in order to make sure the settings are correct) is why calculators often linger with one person for two decades- or at least until it is lost, stolen or destroyed. I once saw a student take his calculator apart, at 3am in the study hall, to dry it after spilling coffee on it. Which brings me to the reason that inspired this post- mine finally broke. The keys stopped being responsive. The usual change to fresh batteries didn’t help, so I was forced to get a new one.

And boy am I dissappointed! You see the new 10B’s are plastic. (There is no 10B anymore- only a 10BII). My old one is largely aluminum- face and keys, integrated tightly with a plastic frame and back. It’s solid and feels right. The new one feels entirely different. But I can get used to the new touch pressure over time. After a few weeks, I still can’t get used to the button switch though. That’s right, HP must have fired or downsized every last engineer worth his/her salt. The fools moved the clear button to where the shift key was. Actually, they rearranged a lot of buttons. So, I’m constantly screwing up a calculation mid-stream, necessitating starting over. Since I’m no longer drilling for exams, I’ll probably never get as comfortable or as quick with this new one. An entire generation of finance geeks are cursing this to themselves (I hear you!).

I give you, the old magnificent HP 10B and the new, crappy, 10B II

Anyway, there is a bright side for some of you out there. If you are a 12C user, HP apparently now offers a special HP 12C 30th anniversary edition. I’ll wait until someone at HP brings back a real calculator though. None of this RPN crap. In fact, consider this my official offer to buyout the calculator business from HP. It doesn’t have to die, but it does need to adapt, change and reposition. I know exactly how to make it a great business. Call me, HP. Really.