bc, dc

Calculators.

The dc is RPN, which I never liked.

bc 1.05
Copyright 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'. 
80 * 1.25
100.00
80 * (40 + 60)
8000

Anthony-Lawrences-Computer:~ apl$ dc
60
40
+
80
*
p
8000
 

Same answer, of course.

Both of these are arbitrary precision, which means that they can calculate numbers out to the limits of your virtual memory. You can do nice base conversion with bc:

$ bc << EOF  
  ibase=2
  100
  EOF
4
$
 

Watch out when you reset ibase. If you need to switch back, keep track of where you are:

ibase=2
111
7
1010
10
ibase=10
# oops, that won't work
100
4
ibase=1010
# that will reset it to base 10
100
100
obase=16
100
64
ibase=16
obase=A
# have to use A because we already reset ibase!
FF
255
 

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