The PV, FV, and PMT buttons are cash flow buttons. Which numbers are positive and which are negative depends on the point of view that you adopt.
If you look at this problem from the point of view of the company issuing the bonds, the borrower, then PV is positive (they receive money today from issuing the bonds), PMT is negative (they pay coupons), and FV is negative (they pay the par value at maturity).
If you look at this problem from the point of view of the bondholder, the lender, then PV is negative (they pay money today to purchase the bonds), PMT is positive (they receive coupons), and FV is positive (they receive the par value at maturity).
I encourage you to decide on a point of view β borrower or lender, it doesnβt matter β and always adopt that point of view when working these problems. Youβll find that you make fewer mistakes that way.
N is the number of payments to be made in the future. You can enter it directly as 10 , or enter 5, press the 2nd N to get xP/Y, which will multiply 5 by whatever you have stored as P/Y (which should be 2 for semi-annual) and the display will change to 10. You can then press N to register 10.