Clearing the memory of your HP BII+ financial calculator is helpful in some instances. Stored results and data entries could affect your results. The calculator can give surprising results by including some already stored data in memory. Maybe yours has frozen.
Nevertheless, it can be an expensive mistake. Clearing the HP BII+ memory will erase your results and data that could otherwise be easily retrieved.
The calculator has no undo button.
So how do you clear the calculator’s memory?
Well, it depends on the one you want to remove. This post will show you exactly how to clear the HP BII+ financial calculator’s memory and even reset it with examples of clearing specific memory types.
The video demonstrates all the examples discussed.
Understanding the use of the Special Shift Keys on the HP BII+
Before looking at the various information that the HP BII+ calculator stores, it’s essential to know how its Keys work.
Each Key has three functions. The primary function is printed in white on the Key. The second and the tertiary functions are printed in orange and blue at the bevel and at the top of the Key, respectively.
To access the primary function, you simply press that Key. But accessing the secondary and tertiary functions on a key requires the Shift Key.
The Shift Keys are two: Shift Up Key and Shift Down Key. These are coloured Blue and Orange (the orange colour looks more like pink on my way). You guessed it! To access the secondary function, you first press the Shift Down Key (orange coloured on the calculator) and then press the Key with the function required. Similar goes for the tertiary functions, where you must first press the Shift Up Key (blued coloured) and then press the Key with the necessary function.
Why is knowing the functions of the Shift Key? Well, it’s because clearing various memories use these keys.
Various Memories and How to Clear Them
1. How to clear time value of money (TMV) memory
The time value of money computes either the present value (PV) or future value (FV) of money using the number of payments, interest rate, periodic payments and the number of payments per year. In a subsequent blog post, I should teach how to do various time value calculations using the HP BII+ financial calculator. Let me know in the comments section if you are interested in that post. But let’s say you already did various computations of the time value of money and want to clear the calculator’s memory. Follow these easy steps.
- Press the Shift Up key
- Press the C key
- Press the numeric Key labelled 1
The current payment period P_Yr is displayed temporarily and disappears. This process also clears any depreciation data since that is also stored in the TVM memory.
2. Clear Cashflow Memory
What if you were doing some cash flow analysis and probably valuing properties with uneven cash flows? The Cashflow memory includes all data inputted using the Cash flows, IRR, NPV, and NFV keys. That memory can be cleared as follows.
Note that using the combination of Shift up and C keys would not clear the cash flow memory. Indeed, any subsequent cash flow entries will keep being appended. It is essential to clear the cash flow memory before any new cash flow calculations because of this situation.
To clear the Cashflow Memory, follow these steps
- Press the Shift Up Key
- Next, press the Clear Key (labelled C)
- Then press the 0 numeric key
On the LCD screen of the calculator, a message “CFLO CLR” will flash and disappear
3. Clear Statistics Memory
Clearing the statistics memory or registers does not use the Clear Key as demonstrated for other memory types explained earlier. It uses the M Key instead. Press the Shift Up Key and then press the Key.
If successful, STAT CLR will flash on your LCD of the calculator and disappear.
4. Clear the memory on Bonds
Follow these steps to clear the bond memory
- Press the Shift Up, once
- Next, press the clear memory key,
- Then press the numeric Key labelled 7 once
BOND CLR (message flashes and then disappears)
5. Clearing the entire Memory
Occasionally, you want to clear all memory and do new calculations.
This process is simple. Keep in mind that the HP BII+ has no undo button, so this clearing the memory is not reversible.
Caution!! ERASED RESULTS CAN NOT BE RETRIEVED.
Write them down if you will need them subsequently.
This procedure is helpful if you do not want to clear individual memory sets.
- Press the Shift Up Key once
- Next, press the Clear button
6. How to soft reset the HP BII+ calculator
This soft resetting procure reverts the HP BII+ calculator to its default settings. It clears every entry, calculation, and any settings changes. The calculator will go back to the manufacturer’s default settings if the reset is successful.
There are two ways of doing this.
Caution must be exercised in doing a complete reset.
Option 1:
- Press and hold down the On Key
- While still holding down the On Key, press the N Key
- While holding down both ON and N keys, press the PV button.
Option 2:
This procedure requires you to open the battery compartment. Using a pin, insert and press the reset button within the reset hole. It is located at the top of the two batteries.
With a financial calculator, you can compute mortgage payments and interest rates in Ghana
Bonus tips
a. How do you change the number of decimal places on a HP 10BII+ calculator?
Decimal numbers can always be rounded off to the nearest decimal as desired. Typical decimal places are 1, 2, 3, 4 decimal places. For example, 5.8626 can be rounded to 6 (nearest whole number), 5.8 (1 decimal place) or 5.82 (2 decimal places). Changing the number of decimal places affects all numeric entries and results.
Follow these steps to change the number of decimal places:
- Press the Shift down key, (orange key, on some versions, this colour looks pinkish)
- Next, press the equal sign key once (notice that this key has “DISP” below the = sign. It stands for “decimal places”)
- Next, press the number of decimal places you want (e.g. 2)
Repeat the process anytime you need to change the decimals to something else.
b. How do I remove BGN from my financial calculator?
The BGN is used when commuting different types of annuities, switching from ordinary annuities to annuities due. Regular advanced payments are made at the beginning of the payment interval with annuities due. A helpful example is rent payments. For ordinary annuities (or simply annuities), the payments are paid at the end of the payment interval.
The HP 10BII+ calculator, by default, treats annuities as ordinary, and you don’t need to do anything. It is when the computation involves annuities due that a change is necessary.
Follow these steps to change BGN from the HP 10BII+
- Press the Shift down key, once
- Then press the key marked MAR (beneath is Beg/End in pink)
- Repeating this process either changes to BGN or removes it and maintains the default end.
- “Beg” will appear near the bottom edge of the screen if the change is to BGN. It will disappear once it’s set to End (that is the default setting)
- Always REMEMBER to remove the BGN on completing the specific computations, as this can affect subsequent calculations present values and annuities’ calculations.
I hope you found this quick guideline helpful. Leave a comment or question, and I will get back.
