Problem with HP 17bii+

[ijabbott]

(10-10-2023 06:19 PM)mod220 Wrote:  [quote='Dave Hicks' pid='178314' dateline='1696952929']
Thanks, this is for a financial exam I'm preparing for. I know I can easily convert to a decimal before inputting, but for simplicity, it would be nice to use the % sign, as that is consistent with my studies. I am still baffled the calculator does this, I cannot see the use case why converting to 11% of 4 makes any sense at all?

Because y+x% is converted to y+(y*x%), for example:

10+4% → 10+(10*4%) → 10+(10*0.4) → 10+0.4

Also x% with no operator to the left is converted to (x*0.01), for example:

11% → (11*0.01) → 0.11

Combining the above:

11%+4% → (11*0.01)+4% → 0.11+4% → 0.11+(0.11*4%) → 0.11+(0.11*0.04) → 0.11+0.0044

If you want to avoid that behaviour, use parentheses:

(11+4)% → 15% → 0.15

You can even drop the opening parenthesis in this case:

11+4)% → 15% → 0.15