Business Mathematics: Review of Arithmetic - Using An Electronic Calculator

Electronic calculators provide the ability to do complex calculations quickly and efficiently and with less error than hand calculations. Because they are so inexpensive, they are widely used and have become a basic tool in mathematics.
Students studying business mathematics should purchase a calculator with a power function. This will make problems involving compound interest much easier to deal with.
Although many different models are available, with many advanced options and features, their basic operations work in a very similar manner. Consult your owner’s manual for a description of more advanced features.

Example
To add 23.178 +16.624 we enter the numbers separated by the key.

The answer is displayed by pressing the key.


Example
Add 16.75 to 12.7 and then subtract 8.572


Example
Multiply 12.34 by 7.23:


Example
Divide 193.8 by 15.2:


Example
Raise 1.2 to the fifth power (i.e., 1.25):

In algebra, multiplication and division are always performed before addition and subtraction. Therefore the value of the expression 2 + 3 × 7 is 23. If we want to do the addition first, we use parentheses to change the order of operations. Thus (2 + 3) × 7 has a value of 35. If your calculator does not have parentheses, you can evaluate the expression, but you have to be careful to compute the addition, press the key, then do the multiplication and press the key again.

Example
(a)  Calculate the value of (23.6 + 5.2) × 2.7 using parentheses:


(b)  Calculate the value of (23.6 + 5.2) × 2.7 without using parentheses:


Solved Problems

1.  Add 26.2, 17.3, and 65.9.
Solution



2.  Multiply 27.68 by 16.27 and then add 37.585 to the sum.
Solution



3.  Divide 34.925 by 12.7 and then subtract 1.22.
Solution



4.  Add 12.2 to 25.9 and multiply the sum by 3.
Solution
(a)The standard order of operations require that multiplication be performed first. Since we wish to perform addition before multiplication, parentheses may be used.


(b)This problem may also be done without using parentheses:



5.   Compute the value of 1.0520.
Solution