Using the C4.calc calculator for financial calculations
© Michael D. Kinsman

This is a brief guide to using the C4.calc financial calculator on your Palm OS PDA. You can download the
C4 calculator at http://www.c4calc.com. This sheet does not replace your instruction booklet, nor does it
replace actually practicing with the calculator. In the materials below, BOLD FACE indicates that you
press screen button with that label. # below indicates that you enter a number. To exit a screen to the
one “above” it, press the x in the upper right corner.

Setting up your calculator.To set the number of digits after the decimal point, press the

menu key on your PDA, go to Options, and then select preferences.
places after the decimal point.

Select the number of decimal

Financial calculations.

You should use the following sign convention when you work on

financial calculations:
• Treat cash flows you are receiving as positive numbers.
• Treat cash flows you are paying out as negative numbers.

For the calculations below, press the TVM key on your main menu. At the bottom of the screen, you will
find Mode. For annuities at the end of period (ordinary annuities), it should be set End. For annuities at
the start of period (annuities due), it should be set to Begin. You can set the number of compounding
periods immediately below the Begin/End menu. (Very often, this should be 1 for a first finance class).
In each of these calculations, remember the sign convention! If you have an error, either that or omitted
data is the most likely cause.

To
calculate

First
clear

Next
enter

Next
enter

Next
enter

Next
enter

Push for
result

Future
value
Present
value
Interest
rate
Annuity
payment

CLR

# N

# I%YR

# PMT(if any).# PV(if any). Single
Annuity paymentspayments now
# PMT(if any).# FV(if any). Single
Annuity paymentspayments at time N
# PV(if any). Single# FV(if any). Single
payments nowpayments at time N
# PV(if any). Single# FV(if any). Single
payments nowpayments at time N

FV

CLR

# N

# I%YR

PV

CLR

# N

# PMT (if any).
Annuity payments
# I%YR

I%YR

CLR

# N

PMT

To amortize a loan.Do the steps for annuity paymentas shown above. Then press the
Each press

Amortization Table button. period is listed. To get the next set of periods, the arrow in
the lower right hand corner of the screen. To get the remaining balance at any period, press the “hash”
marks to the right of “Principal” in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

To display the interest and principal for an interval (say periods 1 through 10 of a loan), first press the
←CLR button at the bottom of the screen, and then enter the first period of the interval, a space, and

then the second period of the interval (for example, 1 10). Then press the summation sign (Σ ).

To calculate IRR and NPV.For the calculations below, go to the initial C4.Calc screen and

enter the CFLO menu.
• Clear previous data by pressing the “piece of paper” icon on the menu bar. Enter a name
for your new set of cash flows, and press OK.
• To enter a flow, put it under the Amount column. If the cash flow repeats, put in the number of
repeats under the Timescolumn.
• To enter a new cash flow, press the left most icon on the I%line and follow the steps above.
• To insert a cash flow, click on the line below where you want to want the new line, press the right
most icon on the I%line and follow the steps above
• To delete a cash flow, click on the line you want to delete and press the center icon on the I%
line.
• When you have entered the final cash flow
• If you are calculating an NPV or an NFV, clear the interest rate by backspacing over it a
couple of times and enter the interest rate # I% followed by NPVor NFV, depending on
which you want to calculate.
• If you are calculating an IRR, enter IRR. You will be asked for a “guess” for the upper
and lower bounds of the IRR. Entering a good guess will save calculation time. Also, if
there are multiple IRR’s for a problem, you can ferret them out with a good guess.