FSCalc

Contents of This Page

Skip past contents.

1. Entering Equations and Expressions
2. Reviewing the History
3. Saving Your Work
4. Clearing the Calculator
5. Arithmetic Examples
6. Volatile and Non-Volatile Memory
7. Conversion Example
8. Statistical Example
9. Financial Examples
10. Operator and Function Tables

FSCalc is a scientific, engineering, and financial calculator. The calculator includes functions for statistics, metric conversions and physical properties and constants.

Note: When using FSCalc, the PAC Mate speaks and displays results one line at a time. For example, when you press ENTER (DOT 8) to calculate a mathematical operation, your PAC Mate speaks and displays the result. FSCalc clears the previous value that appeared on the line and replaces it with the new result.

To review the history of how you derived the result, use the UP ARROW key to scroll backwards to previous lines, and use the DOWN ARROW key to scroll forward and return to the current line. If you are using a refreshable braille display, you can pan left and right within a line using the display’s Whiz Wheels®. However, you cannot use the Whiz Wheels to pan from one line to another or for Sentence mode or Paragraph mode.

Entering Equations and Expressions

You can choose to enter an equation or expression using the menu (ALT) or by typing it with the keyboard. Anytime you solve an equation or expression, you must follow conventional math rules such as the order of operations.

• Parenthesis and Brackets - Simplify the inside of parenthesis and brackets before you deal with the exponent (if any) of the parenthesis or remove the parenthesis.
• Exponents - Simplify the exponent of a number or of a parenthesis before you multiply, divide, add, or subtract it.
• Multiplication and Division - Simplify multiplication and division in the order they appear from left to right.
• Addition and Subtraction - Simplify addition and subtraction in the order they appear from left to right.

Variables can be any combination of letters (a-z) and digits (0-9). Standard operations are entered in the form a+b, with no spaces. For example, x=7, y=9, x+y, f+10.

Operators modify the value stored in a variable.

Expressions are any combinations of numbers, variables, operators and functions.

Functions consist of a name followed by a comma-separated list of arguments enclosed in parentheses. If you choose to type the function instead of selecting it from the menus, be sure that you type it without spaces.

Once you have entered the equation or expression, press ENTER for the result.

If you select a function from the Functions Menu, anything selected on the current line is treated as an argument, i.e., placed in parentheses.

When you press ENTER to calculate an operation, PAC Mate speaks and selects the result. If you type a new number or entry, it replaces the result with the new entry. If you type an operator, the result become part of the new operation and the insertion point is placed at the end of the operation, ready for you to finish your calculation.

Back to top

Reviewing the History

Once you have entered a calculation(s) you can sequentially review the steps taken or the equations entered by pressing the UP ARROW to move backward or DOWN ARROW to move forward.

Back to top

Saving Your Work

At anytime, while working through a calculation, you can save your work as a .txt file. Press CTRL+S or ALT+S, S to save the file in the current folder with the current name in the current location or open the File Menu and select Save As. Type a new file name, use the TAB command to move to the Folder combo box, and press the down arrow to select a folder. Press TAB again to move to the Location combo box and press the down arrow to select a location.

To reopen the saved file, press CTRL+O.

Back to top

Clearing the Calculator

With FSCalc you can clear three items in the calculator: clear current line (ALT+S, C or ALT+0), clear the history (ALT+S, H), or clear the variables (ALT+S, V). You can find these three items in the Edit Menu as well.

Back to top

Arithmetic Examples

Algebra Question: Simplify the following expression 2+(3-1)*3^2.

1. Following the order of operations, simplify the term inside the parenthesis first. In the edit window of FSCalc, type 3-1, then press ENTER.
2. Next, type p w r ( 3,2 ) or press ALT, F, ENTER to open the Functions Menu, then press ENTER on the Trig submenu and select Pwr. Pwr(2) will show automatically in the edit window so all you need to do is press the LEFT ARROW twice and type 3,. When you are done, press ENTER.
3. The next order of operations to solve for is the answer from step 2 multiplied by the answer from step 1, which is (2)*9. To do this, press * and type the answer "2." (If you cannot remember the answer from step 1, you can use UP ARROW to review each step taken in this expression. Use the DOWN ARROW to move to the last answer, which was 9.) When you are done, press ENTER.
4. The last step to simplifying this expression is to add 2 to18. Press + so expression now becomes 18+ and type 2, ENTER. (Answer = 20)
5. Review the calculations for any errors by pressing the UP ARROW.
6. Press ALT, F, ENTER and choose Save As to name and save this calculation as a .txt file.
7. Press ALT+S, H to clear the history.

Arithmetic Question: You are shopping for a new desktop computer and have found one for $875.00. The computer store salesman tells you that the special going on is 35% off all computers storewide. How much is the computer you picked out?

1. In the edit window type 875*35%.
2. When you are done press ENTER.
3. Now, subtract $306.25 from $875.00 (Answer = $568.75)

Back to top

Volatile and Non-Volatile Memory

FSCalc supports up to 32 non-volatile, or permanent, memory locations and 200 volatile, or erasable, memory locations.

The following applies to FSCalc's non-volatile memory:

• Non-volatile memory locations are labeled as m00 through m31.
• To assign a value to a specific memory location, type the memory location and give it a value. For example, to assign m00 a value of 10, type m00=10 and press ENTER. The value 10 appears.
• To recall a value, enter the memory location and press ENTER. The memory location's value appears. For example, if you type m00 and press ENTER, the value 10 appears.
• To use a memory location, just insert it into an equation. For example, type 20+m00 and press ENTER, the value 30 appears.
• FSCalc always saves the result of the last calculation under the variable name LR. For example, the result of the last calculation (20+m00) is 30. If you type 10+lr and press ENTER, the result is 40, which is also the new value of lr.
• Since non-volatile memory is retained when the PAC Mate is turned off, use the clear permanent memory function to erase all non-volatile memory locations. For example, from the General menu, select the Memory submenu, and then select ClearPermMem. Press ENTER and when asked if you want to clear the permanent memory locations, select OK. All non-volatile memory locations now have the value of 0.
• You can also use the Clear All Memory function to erase all non-volatile and volatile memory locations.

The following applies to FSCalc's volatile memory locations.

• FSCalc has 200 volatile memory locations. An error message appears if you try to exceed this limit.
• Memory location names, or variables, are user defined, and must begin with a letter followed by any combination of letters and numbers. Examples of valid names are B, ab123, x, train1, and so on.
• Memory location names are not case sensitive. Therefore, train1, TRAIN1, and trAin1 are valid names that refer to the same memory location.
• To assign a memory location a value, type the memory location and give it a value. For example, type train1=47 and press ENTER. The variable train1 is 47.
• To recall a value, enter the memory location and press ENTER. The memory location's value appears. For example, if you type train1 and press ENTER, the value 47 appears.
• To use a memory location, just insert it into the equation. For example, type 3+train1 and press ENTER. The value 50 appears.
• To clear volatile memory locations, use the clear volatile memory function. For example, from the General menu, select the Memory submenu, and then select ClearVolatMem. Press ENTER and when asked if you want to clear the volatile memory locations, select OK.
• FSCalc always saves the result of the last calculation under the variable name LR. For example, the result of the last calculation (3+train1) is 50. If you type 10+lr and press ENTER, the result is 60, which is also the new value of lr.
• Volatile memory locations are not permanent and are erased when FSCalc is closed.

Back to top

Conversion Example

Conversion Question: The winter of 2002-2003 is reputed to be one of the coldest winters on record. To substantiate this your friends from Syracuse, New York call to tell you that the temperature outside is -25 degrees Celsius and the wind is blowing at 10 miles per hour. What is the temperature in Fahrenheit and the wind chill factor?

1. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu select and press ENTER on Conversions. In the submenu select and press ENTER on Celsius to Fahrenheit.
2. Type -25 and ENTER. (Answer = -13 degrees Fahrenheit)
3. Next, go back into the Conversions submenu and press ENTER on Wind Chill. The edit window now has wc(-13).
4. Press RIGHT ARROW once to move inside the parentheses and type ,10 and press ENTER. (Wind Chill = -37.2555 degrees Fahrenheit)

Back to top

Statistical Example

Statistical Question: Find the average, standard deviation and sum from the following data. Data Set (6,8,9,10,2)

1. Type a v g ( 6,8,9,10,2 ) and press ENTER. Or press ALT, F, ENTER. With the Functions Menu opened move to the Stat submenu and press ENTER. Press ENTER again on Avg. Now type 6,8,9,10,2 and press ENTER. (Answer = 7)
2. Use the UP ARROW and SHIFT+HOME, CTRL+C to move, select and copy (6,8,9,10,2). Press the DOWN ARROW once and BACKSPACE over the 7, then paste the selected text. Move to the beginning of the line with the HOME Key and type s t d d e v. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = 2.82843)
3. Clear the current line, 2.82843, with ALT+S, C. Press CTRL+V and HOME to paste the selected text that is still on the clipboard and move to the beginning of the line. Type s u m and press ENTER. (Answer = 35)

Back to top

Financial Examples

Financial Question: Your financial advisor is recommending that you invest $5000.00 in a particular fund for 10 years. He says that the annual rate of return is 7.18%. In order to make an informed decision, you need to find out how much your money would be worth in 10 years.

To solve this problem you need to have some knowledge of the relationship between the rate of interest (r), time (t), the present value (pv) and the future value (fv) of the dollar. The relationship is as follows:

fv=pv*(1+r/n)^nt

pv = 5000 r = 0.0718 n = 1 t = 10 years fv = ?

To help with the concept, open Notes and take the variables above and plug them into the formula: fv = 5000*(1+.0718/1)^(1)(10). You can solve this problem using the order of operations or you can use the financial functions in FSCalc.

Using the order of operations:

1. Solve 1+.0718 first.
2. Press ALT, F, ENTER to open the Functions Menu. From the Trig Menu select and press ENTER on Pwr.
3. The edit window now reflects the following: pwr(1.0718). Because the cursor is outside the parentheses, you need to press the RIGHT ARROW once and finish the function by pressing ,10 and ENTER. (Answer = 2.0005)
4. Last, solve for fv by multiplying the future value factor, (1+r/n)^nt = 2.0005, and the present value = $5000.00. (Answer = $10,000)

Using FSCalc:

Note: When using the financial functions of FSCalc, you must list your known variables in the following order: fv(r,n,t,pv), pv(r,n,t,fv), pmt(r,n,t,pv), loan(r,n,t,pmt), install(r,n,t,pv)and rate(n,pv,fv).
Where:
pv = the present value or initial value
fv = the future value
r = the annual interest rate
t = time
n = number of compound periods in a year

1. First clear the history with ALT+S, H.
2. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on fv.
3. The edit window now has fv(). Inside the parentheses, type .0718,1,10,5000. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = $10,0002.5)

Financial Question: You are interested in buying a home. You want to know what your monthly payment will be if you take a 15 year bank note for $120,000 at rate of 4.75% compounded monthly.

Using Notes, list out your known variables.

pmt = ? r = .0475 n = 12 t = 15 pv = 120,000

1. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on payment.
2. The edit window now has pmt(). Inside the parentheses, type .0475,12,15,120000. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = $933.52)

Financial Question: You are concerned about your retirement. You want to know how much you have to invest today in order to accumulate $1 million dollars by the time you are ready to retire. You have found an annuity that is paying 10% return compounded monthly. You figure that you will retire in about 35 years.

Using Notes, list out your known variables.

fv = $1 million r = 0.10 n = 12 t = 35 years pv = ?

1. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on pv.
2. The edit window now has pv(). Inside the parentheses, type .10,12,35,1000000. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = $30,637.25)

In the above question, how much money do you have to deposit each month if the annuity is compounded bi monthly?

In Notes reevaluate your variables. The rate is reconfigured because it is compounded bimonthly. If the rate is compounded quarterly you would use 4.

fv = $1 million pv = $30,637.25 r = .10 n = 24 t = 35

1. Press ALT+S, C to clear the line and then press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on installment.
2. The edit window now has install(). Inside the parentheses, type .10,24,35,1000000. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = $130.72)

Financial Question: You need to take out a 5 year loan for some small home improvements. According to your budget you can afford to spend $50.00 monthly to pay back the loan. Bank rates on a 5 year loan are 6% compounded monthly. Given these parameters how much money can you borrow?

Using Notes, list out your known variables.

loan = ? r = .06 n = 12 t = 5 pmt = 50

1. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on loan.
2. The edit window now has loan(). Inside the parentheses, type .06,12,5,50. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = $2586.28)

Financial Question: You receive quarterly statements from your mutual fund company on your IRA. As you watch your fund's performance you wonder what the rate of return is on your IRA. Your initial investment two years ago was $2000.00 and your most recent statement shows a balance of $3829.52. The IRA is compounded daily.

Using Notes, list out your known variables.

rate = ? pv = $2000.00 fv = $3829.52 n = 365

1. Press ALT, F, ENTER. From the Functions Menu, open the financial submenu and press ENTER on rate.
2. The edit window now has rate(). Inside the parentheses, type 365,2000,3829.52. When you are done press ENTER. (Answer = .00178 x 100 = .178%)

Back to top

Operator and Function Tables

The following tables describe the following FSCalc functions:

• Operators
• General Functions - Display
• General Functions - Memory
• Trigonometric Functions
• Hyperbolic Functions
• Math Functions
• Statistical Functions
• Base Conversion Functions
• Conversion Functions
• Financial Functions

Back to top

Operators

Back to Tables list

General Functions - Display

Back to Tables list

General Functions - Memory

Back to Tables list

Trigonometric Functions

Function	Menu Function	Description
acos()	ArcCosine	Arccosine
asin()	ArcSine	Arcsine
atan()	ArcTangent	Arctangent
atan2()	Atan2	Arctangent of x/y
cos()	Cosine	Cosine
cot()	Cotangent	Cotangent
deg2rad()	Degrees to Radians	Degrees to radians
rad2deg()	Radians Degrees	Radians to degrees
raddeg()	Toggle Rad/Degrees	Toggle radians to degrees. Hot key = CTRL+SHIFT+R.
sin()	Sine	Sine
tan()	Tangent	Tangent

Back to Tables list

Hyperbolic Functions

Function	Menu Functions	Description
cosh()	HyperbolicCosine	Hyperbolic cosine
sinh()	HyperbolicSine	Hyperbolic sine
tanh()	HyperbolicTangent	Hyperbolic tangent

Back to Tables list

Math Functions

Function	Menu Function	Description
fabs()	Abs	Absolute value
avg()	Avg	Finds the average of a list of numbers
div()	Div	Whole number division. For example, div(3,4)=0; div(5,4)=1
exp()	Exp	Exponential. This is the anti-logarithm in base e of a number. For example, Exp(x) computes e (the base of natural logarithm) raised to the x-th power.
fact()	Factorial	The product of consecutive numbers. For example, fact(5)=5*4*3*2*1
fmod()	Fmod	Floating point modulus operations. For example, fmod(13,2)=1; fmod(13.6,2)=1.6
log()	NaturalLog	Logarithm base e
log10()	Log10	Base 10 log
pwr()	Pwr	Power. Argument 1 to the power of argument 2
myRand()	Random	Random. Generates a number between 0 and 1.
recip()	Recip	Reciprocal. Computes the reciprocal of the number entered. For example, recip(2)=1/2 or 0.5
root()	Root	Computes the second arguments root of argument 1. For example, root(8,3)=2
round()	Round	Rounding off to the nearest whole number. For example, round(1.732501)=2; round(1.49999)=1
sqrt()	Sqrt	Square root. Computes the square root. For example, sqrt(16)=4
trunc()	Trunc	Truncate. Rounds down to the next integer. For example, trunc(1.732501)=1; trunc(1.49999)=1

Back to Tables list

Statistical Functions

Function	Menu Function	Description
avg()	Avg	Average of any number of arguments
max()	Max	Maximum of any number of arguments
median()	Median	Median of any number of arguments
min()	Min	Minimum of any number of arguments
stdev()	Std Deviation	Standard deviation of any number of arguments
sum()	Sum	Sum of any number of arguments

Back to Tables list

Base Conversions

Function	Menu Function	Description
d2h()	Dec to Hex	Decimal to hexadecimal
d2o()	Dec to Oct	Decimal to octal
d2b()	Dec to Bin	Decimal to binary
h2d()	Hex to Dec	Hexadecimal to decimal
o2d()	Oct to Dec	Octal to decimal
b2d()	Bin to Dec	Binary to decimal

Back to Tables list

Conversion Functions

Function	Menu Function	Description
cel2fahr()	Cels to Fahr	Celsius to fahrenheit conversion
fahr2cel()	Fahr to Cels	Fahrenheit to celsius conversion
cm2in()	Cms to Inches	Centimeters to inches
in2cm()	Inches to Cms	Inches to centimeters
m2ft()	Meter to Feet	Meter to feet
ft2m()	Feet to Meter	Feet to meter
m2yd()	Meters to Yards	Meters to yards
yd2m()	Yards to Meters	Yards to meters
km2miles()	Kms to Miles	Kilometers to miles
miles2km()	Mile to Kms	Miles to kilometers
gal2lt()	Gal to Ltr	Gallons to liters
lt2gal()	Ltr to Gal	Liters to gallons
lb2kg()	Lbs to Kgm	Pounds to kilograms
kg2lb()	Kgm to Lbs	Kilograms to pounds
oz2gm()	Ounce to Gram	Ounces to grams
gm2oz()	Gram to Ounce	Grams to ounces
wc()	Wind Chill	Wind chill (temperature in fahrenheit, wind speed)

Back to Tables list

Financial Functions

Function	Menu Function	Description
pv()	Present Value	Present value of dollar
fv()	Future Value	Future value of dollar
pmt()	Payment	Payment
loan()	Loan	Loan
install()	Installment	Installment
rate()	Rate	Interest rate compounded

Back to Tables list