[BlindMath] Has Anyone Ever Used a Financial Calculator?

Thu Dec 2 22:16:17 UTC 2021

Hello Nick,

Way back, and I mean a really long way back, as in last century, I completed a Finance degree. (I later saw the light.)

At that time, people were only just starting to use financial calculators as against scientific calculators. I did use one under a CCTV so relied on what residual vision I still had.

The finance calculator had functions for finding what is called the Net Present Value, which puts a future financial transaction in terms of today's money using a discount rate. It also finds the opposite of that, called future value which is perhaps easier to explain. For example, if you put $1000 in the bank today and it returns 5% per annum, what is it worth in ten years' time? This is the more common question for the real world as it is linked to retirement planning.

Another question is if you need to turn $1000 into $1500 in ten years, what is the required return on investment?

The functions needed to do these calculations and more are found in Excel and other spreadsheet software. I'd recommend you seek to use MS Excel as the substitute for the calculator. Yes it has other features your classmates won't have, but the staff should understand what you are able to achieve with it, and avoid them having to evaluate other solutions.

You may find that other courses make use of Excel to do more complex tasks, so skipping past learning the calculator tools in favour of the Excel option may be an investment in your future anyway.

BTW: thanks for helping me use a degree for something other than managing my mortgages.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of nspohn0--- via BlindMath
Sent: Friday, 3 December 2021 10:40 AM
To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics' <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: nspohn0 at gmail.com
Subject: [BlindMath] Has Anyone Ever Used a Financial Calculator?

Hi All,

I am taking an introductory level finance course next semester. My professor is recommending all students to purchase the TI-BAII Plus. My college's disability office found a product for visually impaired users that emulates the recommended device:  

The BA II PLUST Emulator Software emulates the
<https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Feducation&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492200098%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=LP5sk19Dlo%2BJVWSMdMyHoGZpe%2B7R9NctYikTCLX2lsQ%3D&reserved=0
.ti.com%2Fen%2Fus%2Fproducts%2Fcalculators%2Ffinancial-calculators%2Fbaii-pl
us-professional%2Ffeatures%2Ffeatures-summary&data=04%7C01%7Cngs52%40psu.edu
%7C95a7f81d27034e32960708d9b5c92f14%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7
C0%7C637740697942061546%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoi
V2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=XBc%2B8V2KsnQvptJXX%2BYm
9lZBsjlNZhPT3DONdeIeWSI%3D&reserved=0> BA II PlusT Professional Financial Calculator (requires letter on letterhead stating for visually impaired
student)

. ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.

This company has developed a WindowsR Application called Accessible Graphing Calculator for blind and dyslexic users. It displays the calculator on the computer monitor, and audibly announces all functions and results. Graphs can be displayed as audible tone plots. A 30-day fully functional copy is available at
<https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewpl%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492200098%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=uyvUoXnu24h5qKx9TU8gc4wcv8lPOZe0c9jvnlf%2Bi8k%3D&reserved=0
us.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cngs52%40psu.edu%7C95a7f81d27034e32960708d9b5c92f14%
7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C637740697942061546%7CUnknown%7C
TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%
3D%7C3000&sdata=yibYEk%2BoncguxsX3hRSzYDzi6jzs%2FUKF66%2BOTr7gK64%3D&reserve
d=0> https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.viewplus.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492210055%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=BeNCu16cXL3a%2F%2Fcl5SIwL8o%2BOWD13AXaT568xUc1KHw%3D&reserved=0 .

Has anyone either used this specific calculator or the software above? Are there any accessible financial calculators out there? I never took a finance course before, so I was surprised to hear that I need a specific calculator for finance calculations.

Thank You,

Nick 

_______________________________________________
BlindMath mailing list
BlindMath at nfbnet.org
https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnfbnet.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fblindmath_nfbnet.org&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492210055%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=ovOfXiyZy73vOe0F2hloIaGvTh0MmNwv4EfXUczlFY8%3D&reserved=0
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for BlindMath:
https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnfbnet.org%2Fmailman%2Foptions%2Fblindmath_nfbnet.org%2Fa.j.godfrey%2540massey.ac.nz&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492210055%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=kCdSx2stwOPfkLyIGEM3pQsaoKt2J9ffY5Hg4gVOFxc%3D&reserved=0
BlindMath Gems can be found at <https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blindscience.org%2Fblindmath-gems-home&data=04%7C01%7Ca.j.godfrey%40massey.ac.nz%7Cf06ac63f48ef430014ee08d9b5dca194%7C388728e1bbd0437898dcf8682e644300%7C1%7C0%7C637740781492210055%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=WaaTvmzTtI5ZELaw8CLzOgJEBuSYbJBoy2u%2Bh00gzMY%3D&reserved=0>