The HP-12C is a financial calculator made by Hewlett-Packard. Due to its gold-colored, and thus prestigious-looking, faceplate, and simple operation for key financial calculations, it has been very popular over the years among financial professionals. It is in fact HP's longest and best selling model, in continual production since its introduction in 1981. This is true even though a relatively simple, but iterative process such as amortizing the interest over the life of a loan, a process that can be calculated instantly with modern financial calculators, can take over a minute with the HP-12C. Later HP financial calculators are many times as fast with more functions, but none have been as successful. The HP-12C is the de facto standard in the financial industry.

Over the years, the battery compartment has changed and faster processors have been used. However, Hewlett-Packard after some market research found the users did not trust results obtained so quickly and introduced some delay in the code.

In 2003, Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-12C Platinum which although it looks similar to the original is internally a completely new calculator developed following the manuals of the original HP-12C.

See also: List of Hewlett-Packard products

External links

• http://www.hpmuseum.org/tech10.htm
• http://www.hp.com/calculators/financial/12c/
• http://www.hp.com/calculators/financial/12p/