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7 of the Best Free Linux Calculators
An anonymous reader writes "One of the basic utilities supplied with any operating system is a desktop calculator. These are often simple utilities that are perfectly adequate for basic use. They typically include trigonometric functions, logarithms, factorials, parentheses and a memory function. However, the calculators featured in this article are significantly more sophisticated with the ability to process difficult mathematical functions, to plot graphs in 2D and 3D, and much more. Occasionally, the calculator tool provided with an operating system did not engender any confidence. The classic example being the calculator shipped with Windows 3.1 which could not even reliably subtract two numbers. Rest assured, the calculators listed below are of precision quality."
Or "anything more complicated than adding a few numbers, it's easier to open a calculator than to learn how any particular spreadsheet functions".
That's really just a fancy way of saying that you are familiar with a spreadsheet, and not with a calculator program.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
My favorite Linux calculator:
function math
{
echo "scale=2 ; $*" | sed -e "s:x:*:g" | sed -e "s:,::g" | bc
}
$ math 12,147.2 x 3
36441.6
what more could you possibly want?
There was a disturbance in the force when Carly the Horrible 86'd the calculator line at HP, and collective sigh when they came back. I keep a sheet of 1/8" aluminum in the front of my HP48Gx soft case to protect the LCD when it's in there. I can't imagine engineering without it. I fully expect to have it buried with me when I die.
RPN FTW!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
could you guys give the pointless Microsoft bashing a rest? Just once, ever?
No. Users of Microsoft product have a shared experience. It's no different from that knowing wink when I talk to other Florida residents about Hurricane Andrew. Or comisserate with a Cubs fan. Or talk about the most recent inanities of the most recent PHB with another cubicle dweller. Windows is our shared hell, our Inferno. We could no more stop talking about its pains than we could stop complaining about taxes or the latest government screwup. Indeed, I could holler over my cubicle wall, "Remember Code Red?" or "Just like Nimda" and four people will join in a collective groan of agreement.
By my count:
Algebraic: 2 + 4 = * ( 5 + 6 =
10 keystrokes
RPN: 2 Enter 4 + 5 Enter 6 + *
9 keystrokes
Although it is only a single stroke on this problem, there does seem to be an advantage in keystrokes. I think there would be an additional keystroke saved on each additional sum in parenthesis that you tacked on to the product.