MORTGAGE CALCULATOR 1983

This was something I knocked up on the drawing board when I was house-hunting back in the early 1980s.

I have always liked maths and arithmetic, and often found a geometric chart easier as a quick ready-reckoner than messing about with a calculator. Look at how high the interest rate went!

Basically, you looked up the vertical axis for the amount of loan, scanned across to the interest rate on offer, and slid back down to the x-axis to see what you would have to pay each month.

The advantage of such a graphs is obvious; you can get an good idea of what would happen if interest rates moved up or down .  You could also work the chart in reverse, starting with what you could afford each month, sliding up the angled interest rate line to read across to the y-axis loan amounts.

It did account for something called MIRAS, but excluded the endowment policy premiums.

Anyway, it is now more of an historical document, but could it also be “art” — can a chart be art?  Are there artistic qualities in maths, physics, finance, instruments and charts and the like?  For some reason I like to think there is.

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