Talking or Braille Financial Calculators
Kane Brolin
Hello. My name is Kane Brolin, and I am a totally blind financial advisor
looking for some advice on advanced talking calculators--or, if one exists,
an advanced Braille output calculator.
In my profession, and as I pass courses that give me added certifications, I
am increasingly being called on to perform advanced computations that go
well beyond what I can do with a Braille 'n Speak scientific calculator.
These computations involve irregular rates of return on investments;
determining a lump sum needed to produce a particular stream of annuity
income; and present or future values that involve money being compounded
monthly or quarterly instead of just annually. I understand that I could
figure out how to do some of these things in Excel; but in a meeting with a
client, or in a formal exam setting, I can't always bring a laptop PC to the
table.
Most people in my profession use a specially designed financial calculator
(either the Model 10B or the Model 12C) developed by Hewlett-Packard to
perform such calculations. But HP has done no work to adapt its
calculators, and I don't even know of any PC emulation program that can
reproduce the keystrokes used on such an HP business calculator.
I've been researching 2 talking calculators, one marketed by
SuperProducts.com and the other by LS&S. But I'm not sure if either of
these products will do the kind of job that an HP calculator can perform for
the sighted user.
Any advice on this matter is greatly appreciated--even if someone out there
knows of a good overall scientific calculator that can be adapted to do what
I need.
Thanks,
Kane Brolin
Mishawaka, IN
USA
Chris McMillan
Brolin <deco...@earthlink.net> writes
>To Anyone Out There:
>
>Hello. My name is Kane Brolin, and I am a totally blind financial advisor
>looking for some advice on advanced talking calculators--or, if one exists,
>an advanced Braille output calculator.
>
So far as I know these are used for all monetary calculations.
Sincerely Chris
--
Chris McMillan
reply to: chris.m...@ntlworld.com
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.mcmillan/
tls...@concentric.net
<spam...@ntlworld.com> took a very strange color crayon and
scribbled:
>In message <doK4b.17490$Om1....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>, Kane
>Brolin <deco...@earthlink.net> writes
>>To Anyone Out There:
>>
>>Hello. My name is Kane Brolin, and I am a totally blind financial advisor
>>looking for some advice on advanced talking calculators--or, if one exists,
>>an advanced Braille output calculator.
>>
>What about an abacus?
>
>So far as I know these are used for all monetary calculations.
That wouldn't be very practical for large and complicated financial
calculations! How are you going to calculate compound interest, just
for example?
--
Therese Shellabarger - Civis Mundi - tls...@concentric.net
Chris McMillan
tls...@concentric.net writes
>On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 23:14:16 +0100, Chris McMillan
><spam...@ntlworld.com> took a very strange color crayon and
>scribbled:
>
>>In message <doK4b.17490$Om1....@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>, Kane
>>Brolin <deco...@earthlink.net> writes
>calculations! How are you going to calculate compound interest, just
>for example?
>
must be possible since the Chinese used them for all their transactions
until computers came along. I've tried asking about the uses of an
abacus as I have many Chinese friends but these young people tend to
shrug it off as an 'old fashioned' thing. I recently heard a radio
programme (produced on an English language China based station) about
the use of the abacus in modern day China, but it didn't go into such
advanced detail. Much of the third world can't have calculators so they
must use some traditional means.
Watching even a simple calculation on an abacus is really fascinating.
I have a blind friend though in Inner Mongolia. I will ask him about
this. He is a teacher (of English and music).