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- Topic: I don't believe it!
| Author | Topic: I don't believe it! |
|---|---|
| cfadreamer @2005-06-11 12:50:09 |
I wanted to make a calculation yesterday and because my computer was off, I used the TI BAII+ I had left on my desk since the exam day.I wanted a calculation like 2 + 3x4 which should give a result of 14 (I use simple numbers here for easy illustration) so i press 2+3x4= and i get a result of 20. I expected a result around 15 so I say it cant be, I repeat the calculation and i see that it doesn't use the algebraic precedence (multiplication has a priority over addition) but it performs calculations from left to right.But how come I wonder, I had used it for several months during my study for the exam and it had algebraic precedance (like Excel).And then I remembered the reset on the calculator that the proctors asked us to do at the beginning of the exam. The default setting for precedance in this calculator is left to right. And I had probably set it to Algebraic several months ago when I had bought it. So in all calculations in the exam that involved both addition and multiplications I must have come with wrong results because of this fucking setting (as I didnt check the screen of the calculator for the intermediate results).Nice way to fail the exam! |
| Goodin @2005-06-11 17:31:02 |
Yeah, that pretty much sucks man. But your not alone, Ive actually heard that happening to quite a few people. Who knows man, its only a few questions, wait about a month, and maybe you'll find you lucked out! |
| Puryear @2005-06-11 20:32:52 |
We weren't told to reset. The proctor just asked us to clear the memory. I thought that was all that was necessary anyway. BTW, why did you people actually reset?? its not like the proctors check...and even if they do, they can't tell if you reset or not. |
| stefdunk @2005-06-14 12:45:42 |
actually it's a good thing the proctors asked us to clear the memory, quite often I've screwed up a calculation based on old data in the memory banks. anyway, wouldn't you have noticed that none of the answers matched your calculations? that would have gotten me to figure it out. secondly, the CFA Instute recommended you thoroughly familiarize yourself with how your calculator works. Imagine making a mistake like that on a billion dollar deal. |
