One of my friend from my college wrote in a pink page of my handmade autograph that, 'Life is like mathematics. Friends to add, enemies to minus. Joys to multiply and Sorrows to divide'. Some times when I use a calculator, especially when I am in good mood I do think about the quote and reflect a bit.
Gone are years where people used to add with pencils and brain, page after page. Arrives; calculator technology to reduce human efforts. Digital calculation made big difference in the business environment. Even after the arrival of new generation computers and phones, calculators are still alive and highly useful.
I use Casio MJ-120T in my office for last 2 years of so. It is helping my job without any problem, whatsoever.
Many other brands came and gone but CASIO is still number one brand when it come to quality calcultors. Here I am not to present the general perception about Casio, but my observations and experience with one particular model I uses now. This you may be consider as a review as well as a user manual but limited to my knowledge to use it, so subject to.
The first feature of this calculator is very common, i.e. it is working on solar energy and no need to put battery or charge. Given that the battery days for calculators are gone, this I know is not any major advantage but the solar system is working perfectly though we are not open to solar energy but only to the electric lights.
The second feature of the calculator is that it has a display of 12 digits, means we can calculate figures up to 12 digits i.e. say 999.99 trillion or say 99,999.99 Crores. Pretty cool! I think that nearly fills almost all business firm needs.
The Canceling Cousins: C button and AC button - the unique Canceling cousins are staying nearby. The C button Cancel the last full digit number where the AC (ALL CANCEL) button cancels all entries. The AC button also work as ON button, if the calculator is on off mode which the calculator set automatically if we are not using it for some time, say 10 minutes. We have to be careful for not to press AC when we want to cancel only one entry, instead use C.
Eleven Fingers: We all have 10 fingers but Casion MJ-120T is 11 fingered and the 11th finger is very useful as well! Ok, I am sure you must have assumed that the 10 fingers are numbers from 0 to 9. The eleventh key is a double zero; i.e., if you want to type 10,00,000 instead of touching the keys 7 times, you can do it with 4 touches. Means this key adds two zeros in one touch. This is very helpful when we have big amounts to deal with. I remember when I traveled to Iran some 15 years back, there the calculators had keys with three zeros and more. You assume the numbers they deal with. The fingers (keys) are all well spaced and comfortable to use.
Life's happiness: My life's control, aka the 4 basic arithmetical symbols (+ - x /) works perfectly. The point key, percentage key and Sum key are very dutiful for which I am grateful where they have made many of my life's calculations with maximum accuracy. Then, there is no square function in the calculator but there is a root function. I think the idea is that square you can do just by multiply by the same digit but roots is not possible by that way. Point taken, but a square key would have been helpful.
My weak memory: I am getting old and all the positive thinking is not bringing my memory back. Now I start believing in taking outside assistance. With numbers while I calculate, I takes the help of M+ (Memory plus), M- (Memory Minus) & MRC (Memory Recollection). They are all working perfectly and helpful.
Little Family Planning: Here we can select the gender. That is right. How to calculate negative numbers in calculators? Many other models have this problem and we had to first place a small number and deduct a big number from that to start with a negative number. For MJ-120T, you have a +/- function with which you can select the gender of the number before applying any function!
Confessions: What a blessing is the ability to forget and forgive? MJ-120T has the backspace key to erase the previous number we typed. One error or some errors of your present number can be deleted and can continue. Isn't it good?
Green Signals many don't like: True. This green signals from Casio I didn't like. i.e., the two green buttons above. Tax+ and Tax-. It must be very useful buttons for others, but living in a so called tax free country, we are least bothered about it.
Your Marketing Partner's name: That is right. I am going to tell your marketing partners name. i.e. MU. The partner's full name is Mark Up. I am sure all the marketing people are already charged up by hearing the friend's name. With this friend, you can mark up your products with your wish matching to the customer's wish. If you have a cost and want to mark up a certain percentage and want to calculate the selling price, you can do it easily with the Amount, MU, Number of percentage, percentage. The only care is to be see that the percentage is selected on the sales price (correctly), not on the cost price. If you want to find the profit, just press equal to and you have it!
A spy on you: If you have typed a lot of calculations and want to review all those in a row? Just type Auto Review and the screen will display all the not cancelled action one by one without your intervention.
100 Steps Check: This is the most advanced feature of M-120T. You can go back up to 100 steps and can correct figures with the help of CORRECT key next by. Two way power is there, so you can go forward and backward and see if the route was clear and figures are correct.
What else you need from a calculator? Oh yes, there is a Grand Total button as well, if you want. Then, if you are looking for all the troubles and SINs which COSes of trigonometry it is not there. It is not a scientific calculator or an architects hand help, but it is clearly meant for a businessman, accountant and for all works in offices and also for any common man.
Worries Made in China: Recently Made in China has no other competitor over here. In earlier days, Dubai was known for quality products and Made in Japan goods. As of now, Made In China nearly sabotaged the market. It is clearly feeding to the people who cries for change. My slogan, people who cry for change are destined to cry after change. Made In China is the best help for all of them. For conservative people like me, Change is not that welcome without a reason to support. However, this is one product I can see a better health and better life for a Chinese product, so I am out of worries so far.
So, while you complete reading this review on a product which is helping me, let us start calculating the life's Grand Total by friends minus enemies multiply joys divide sorrows. My answer is 5. What is yours?
