What's the Net Present Value of Texas Instrument's BA II Plus?
Written: Nov 21 '02 (Updated May 10 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Has the necessary keys to compute financial problems
Cons: Not as user- friendly as other financial calculators
The Bottom Line: This is an acceptable financial calculator, but others, like the HP BA Plus, are much simpler to use
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Calculator BAI... |
Texas Instruments is a well- known company, manufacturing many electronic hand- held devices and several different types of office equipment. They make printers, palm devices, and many other electronic gadgets, but when I think of Texas Instruments, the first things that come to mind are calculators. In part, this is because of my nighttime job as a Professor of Finance. My students need to use a financial calculator to perform many problems, like those relating to present value, future value, amortization payments, internal rate of return, etc. Starting this quarter, the Finance Department at my university decided to change the “official” calculator. Its choice? The Texas Instruments BA II Plus, a financial calculator that has been updated with a slightly new look from previous years, but with basically the same functions intact.
Features of This Calculator:
The TI BA II Plus is designed with financial computations in mind. Besides the usual numbered keys and operational keys (add, subtract, multiply, divide, and equal), there are a total of 27 other keys, and several of them have dual- usage with the second function. Some of the financial keys include cash flow, net present value, internal rate of return, number of periods, present value, future value, payment, interest rate, compute, and arrow keys to enter different cash flow amounts. There are other key functions that can be found on standard calculators as well, like a square root key, y(x), x squared, percent key, and a few others.
These financial function keys will allow you to perform most of the necessary computations for finance, like present value of cash flows, present value of lump- sum, future value, annuity, annuity due, amortization loans, internal rate of return, yield to maturity, yield to call, and other important financial calculations.
If you need to use this calculator for scientific and/or trigonometric functions, you will find its use limited. There are a few second function keys, like sine, cosine, tangent, stat, e(x), and a couple of others. But there is no log, natural log, or other functions that are often needed for complex math problems. This calculator is no substitute for a scientific calculator.
Pricing:
Texas Instruments BA II Plus retails for about $32 dollars, depending on where you make your purchase. This includes the calculator and a short instructional booklet that explains how to make various financial calculations, key- stroke by key- stroke. You might discover that the price is a little higher in your local college bookstore, so you might be wise to shop around at other stores, and even on the internet, to get the best deal.
Final Thoughts:
I just started using the TI BA II Plus on a regular basis this Fall Quarter of 2002. I didn’t make the change by choice. The Finance Department at my university decided to adopt this calculator as the “official” calculator for all Finance classes, replacing the Hewlett- Packard BA Plus. I’m not positive, but I think the reason they made this move was because they signed a contract with Texas Instruments, agreeing to promote this calculator in exchange for a cut on the total sales in the bookstore, or maybe just a flat fee for promoting it, regardless of sales.
I would have preferred that we continue to use the HP BA Plus. It was a much more user- friendly calculator, requiring fewer key- strokes to complete a calculation. With the TI BA II Plus, you have many more keys to press, to get the final answer. And more keys to press means more frustration and more room for error. With each entry, you have to press the “enter” key. Then, after all of the variables have been input, you have to press the “compute” key, then the desired key for the function that you are solving for. With cash flow and net present value, it’s even worse. You have to enter each cash flow, then the frequency of each, then press enter, then hit compute net present value, then enter the interest rate, press enter, and then hit the down arrow key and press compute. If you don’t follow this exact sequence, it will keep flashing the interest rate on the display, not the net present value. With the HP BA Plus, you didn’t have to press any enter key, or compute key, or down arrow key. You just pressed NPV, and that’s what you got.
I have owned the Texas Instruments BA II Plus before. This newer version has basically the same functions, but the shape and design are slightly different. For one thing, it is slightly wider at the top and more narrow in the middle and at the bottom, to make it fit better in your hand. Also, the keys are a little larger and they are set a little further above the surface, making them easier to push. On the older versions of the TI BA II Plus, some keys (like the on/off key) were set flush with the surface. If you had large fingers, it wasn’t always easy to press these buttons.
Overall, this is an acceptable financial calculator. It will help you to find present and future values, loan payments, annuities, etc. But it’s not the most user- friendly financial calculator on the market. There are too many key- strokes to enter, and that leads to more potential for mistakes. My students don’t like it as much as the Hewlett- Packard version, and I don’t like it as much either. But I don’t expect the Finance Department to change back to the HP anytime soon. Hewlett- Packard is easier to use, but if TI is paying the university extra money to promote its calculator, you can bet that TI will remain the official calculator for many more quarters. At universities, and most other places, money rules!
Be Sure to Click the Links Below to Read More Reviews on Other Calculators:
Texas Instruments TI-89
Hewlett- Packard 10bII
Hewlett- Packard 12c
Texas Instruments TI- 83 Plus
Hewlett- Packard 49G+
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price: 32
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