HP 12C+ Firmware

[dm319]

These are the results of this newer HP-12c. These results [dramatic music] have never been seen before in an HP financial calculator. It is able to solve problems 5 and 6, which no other HP calculator can do. But it fails on problem 4, for which we've been able to get an answer from at least the HP-70 onwards. It also fails on problem 7, for which the HP-12c platinum was one of the most accurate at calculating. There is also a very disappointing result for problem 3, which isn't a solving for i problem, but solving for FV with a very high N. It also gives the most accurate result for problems 9 and 10 out of the three of them.

So what do we think? If this is genuinely new firmware for the HP-12c then they've completely reimplemented the code with a new 'solve for i' solver which fails at values of i close to 0, but is able to return a result for problems with multiple solutions.

accuracy rankings (-1 = accurate to 1DP, lower is better):

Code:

| calculator    | year  | ref    | 1   | 1b  | 2   | 3   | 4   | 5   | 6   | 7   | 8   | 9   | 10  |
|---------------|-------|--------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| HP-12cp       | 2003  |        | -8  | -10 | -6  | -6  | -10 | ERR | ERR | -21 | -11 | 0   | 1   |
| HP-12c comma  | ?2022 | 11     | -6  | -9  | -6  | 0   | ERR | -8  | -8  | ERR | -11 | 0   | 0   |
| HP-12c        | 1981  | 8      | -6  | -8  | -4  | -4  | -8  | ERR | ERR | -9  | -11 | 3   | 2   |

results:

Code:

| calculator      | 1                                    | 1b                                    | 2                                    |
|-----------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| HP-12c          | -1368.148355                         | 4.37321837                            | 6803.092172                          |
| HP-12cp         | -1368.14835535                       | 4.3732183723                          | 6803.092162                          |
| HP-12c comma    | -1368.148355                         | 4.373218372                           | 6803.092162                          |
  
| calculator       | 3                                    | 4                                       |
|------------------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| HP-12c           | 331667.0067                          | -7.983367984e-10                        |
| HP-12cp          | 331667.006691                        | -7.98336798336e-12                      |
| HP-12c comma     | 331666.9849                          | ERR                                     |

| calculator      | 5                                   | 5A                                   | 5B                                   |
|-----------------|-------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| HP-12c          | ERR                                 | ERR                                  | ERR                                  |
| HP-12cp         | ERR                                 | ERR                                  | ERR                                  |
| HP-12c comma    | 14.43587133                         | 14.43587133                          | ERR                                  |

| calculator      | 6                                    | 6A                                   | 6B                                    |
|-----------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| HP-12c          | ERR                                  | ERR                                  | ERR                                   |
| HP-12cp         | ERR                                  | ERR                                  | ERR                                   |
| HP-12 comma     | 58.46195527                          | 58.46195527                          | ERR                                   |

| calculator      | 7                                        | 8                                      |
|-----------------|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| HP-12c          | 2.181818182e-10                          | 3.125004736e-6                         |
| HP-12cp         | 2.18181818182e-10                        | 3.125001e-6                            |
| HP-12c comma    | ERR                                      | 3.125001e-6                            |

| calculator      | 9                                    | 10                                   |
|-----------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| HP-12c          | 1041                                 | 1052                                 |
| HP-12cp         | 1061                                 | 1076                                 |
| HP-12c comma    | 1061                                 | 1077                                 |

problems are found here.