So finally something I could answer. As a CA student, I know how important it is to be better at the calculator. Two things we need to improve are i) Speed and ii) Accuracy. So how could we do that? Let’s discuss some calculator tricks
A. M+ function.
M+ function is a very important trick you need when doing calculations involving statistics or finance-related calculations. What it does is adds a number or value to its memory.
Let’s imagine we need to calculate say”56*87” plus “98*43”. So a usual person would first calculate 56*87 writes it down then computes 98*43 and then type those answers again, to sum up. It takes as much as 22 keypresses (i.e. 56*87= 98*43= 4872+4214=) to do it.
Now let us use M+ function. First, we need to clear the calculator memory. So double press the “MRC” key. One press means it shows the number in the memory. One more press it erases it from the memory. Then we calculate as follows 56*87 M+ 98*43M+=. That’s just 13 key presses. Now Press MRC to the answer. In F.M we always need to multiply each cash flow with corresponding PVIF rates and sum up the answers. M+ MRC function allows us to do it quicker.
B. Constant Function.
Before you check your calculator to find a key for this function “there is no specific key”. This function allows doing continuous calculations with one same term. Let’s imagine we need to do multiply 65% of 1234, 5897, 1524 soon, and write each of them down. Usually what we do is as follows .65*1234= writes .65*5897=writes down .65*1524=writes down it takes as much as 27 keypresses. If we notice we can see that “.65” is a common term in all. So we ask the calculator to keep the value “.65” in the memory and multiply the other terms. So how we do this .651234= writes down 5897= writes down 1524=. That’s 20 key presses. The trick here is pressing “*” twice. Doing this makes calculator take in “.65” in its memory to do multiplication. If you do “.65++” it saves “.65” for addition.
Now you need the sum of all those answers in the above question just press “GT” after the series.
C. Now to square any number.
Say we need to square 1454. We do as “1454*1454=” that’s 10 key presses. Now if we do “1454*M+” it only takes 6 key presses. We use squaring a lot when doing standard deviation problems.
So that’s it for the day
Edits 1: Made some changes to the answer.
Edits 2: Some other important tricks as well.
D. Using the GT Function.
GT referred to Gross Total. While searching for the results like NPV, this button is deemed to be very useful as it saves a lot of your crucial time. It stores the result of the current operation and added it to the previous operation. Let’s understand it with a short example –
10+20 = 30
30*2 = 60
30-20 = 10
Then press GT, your answer will be 100. The key point is that it keeps a track of all “=” functions used and add the results for every “=” keypress. Pressing “AC” will reset the totaling. Hereafter “=” press we got three values 30, 60, 10 so GT will add these three values and shows 100.So while computing PVIAF i.e. Present value annuity factor for 10% for 5 years we can compute it with the following keypress — 1/1.1=====(GT) so that is 11 keypress. ( Note 1.1 is 110%, 5 “=” presses for 5 years, GT gives the summation of all values after each “=” press.)
Thanks, guys for 7k
Edit 3: Because it crossed , I am adding more tricks
E. Computation of continuous WDV Depreciation
We all know in accounts either we have the SLM or WDV method of Depreciation. I will give you a simple trick that can be used to compute WDV balances and WDV depreciation for a series of the year.
Suppose we have a Fixed asset worth Rs.1,00,000/ and WDV is 10%. We are required to compute depreciation and year-end balances for the next five years.
some students approach this question as follows, they find the first-year depreciation (i.e. 10,000), then deduct the depreciation to find the closing balance (i.e Rs.90,000) and again compute the next year depreciation (i.e Rs.9,000) and the cycle continues.
However, there is a more efficient way to do this. This we divide the computation into two parts, computing the WDV balances at one go and computing the depreciation for each year at one go.
i) To compute the WDV balances in one go, use the following key presses i.e 0.9100000= = = = = so on……..,
you will get following amounts 90,000//81000//72900//65610/59049 so on
after each keypress of “=,” you will get the closing balance of WDV for each year. so if you need closing balance after 10 years, make 10 “=” keypresses.
Now you may be confused by using “0.9”, it simple guys it is 100% – 10%. Mathematically using 0.9 will make the computation easier.ii) To compute the WDV depreciation,
we will start with the first year’s depreciation by 100000*.1 i.e. Rs.10,000
next, to find the next years depreciation we would follow the key presses
0.9*10,000 = = = = = = so on…….
the amounts will be 10000//8100//7290//6561//5904.9 etc
after each keypress of “=” you will get the amount of depreciation.This trick saves a lot of time while doing many fixed asset depreciation problems.
F: Using the constant function to apply ratios
Suppose you need to divide an amount say Rs. 2,50,000 in the ration 11 : 8 : 6
to do this first just add the ratios = 11+ 8 + 6 == 25
now take the calculator and follow the keypresses
250000/2511= 8= 6=
after each keypress of “=” you will get 1,10,000 // 80,000// 60000This method used while computation of apportionment of expenses to units, dividing goodwill/profit, etc for partnership questions, etc.
I will add more tricks one it crosses 200 upvotes.
