- For all numerical problems, intermediate calculations are held internally in the calculator or software through problem completion, with rounding occurring only at the end. To get the same answer as shown in the course handbook and the exam, do not re-input any intermediate number. Rely on your calculator’s stack or storage registers to hold the number to the maximum digits allowed. If using an electronic spreadsheet, copy and paste the cell reference or contents.
- Occasionally materials will display intermediate results on a rounded basis for ease in instruction. However, calculations relying on those numbers will use the unrounded equivalents until problem completion. For example, while the handbook may show a number such as $135.67, the number that is actually stored in the calculator or Excel is $135.66666… So, a rounded number is shown, but more decimals are stored. Note. Use of intermediate numbers as inputs in calculations may produce results that differ slightly from those shown due to the adopted rounding convention.
- The exam will not require a choice between two answers that differ only by a rounding decision.
- Term calculations. When using Excel or similar software, or a calculator other than the HP-12C, a problem that solves for term may result in a fractional answer instead of the whole number that the HP-12C always shows. The HP-12C rounds a fractional period to the next whole period to reflect the day the final payment is due; the others offer the advantage of alerting the user to the fact that the last payment is not equal to the others. If a problem such as this appears on the exam, the question will not require a choice between the HP-12C rounded solution and the fractional result as the correct answer.