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7 of the Best Free Linux Calculators

Posted by timothy on from the open-in-tabs dept.

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."

8 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Where's DC/BC? by Bananatree3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    DC or BC are more than adequate, are already in 99% of the distros out there and are chock full of features!

  2. Re:For most people ... by bcmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    anything more complicated than adding a few numbers, it's easier to open a spreadsheet than to learn how any particular calculator functions.

    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 /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  3. Re:echo is good enough for me. by Gerald · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

  4. hp48 by tantrum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm amazed they left out the hp48 emulator. It was an amazing calculator, and the emulator does exactly what it it is supposed to do - everything.

    It did everything a calculator is supposed to do, and it was _almost_ able to boil my coffee.

    After my 10 years working with programming, this is still the environment i love the most. Actually it is probably the only thing i still know the exact location of at all times.

    I love beeing a geek :)

  5. Emacs Calc by macshit · · Score: 5, Informative

    Emacs Calc, i.e. "M-x calc" in Emacs is by far the best calculator I've ever seen.

    Here's the blurb from the manual:

    "Calc" is an advanced calculator and mathematical tool that runs as part of the GNU Emacs environment. Very roughly based on the HP-28/48 series of calculators, its many features include:

    • Choice of algebraic or RPN (stack-based) entry of calculations.
    • Arbitrary precision integers and floating-point numbers.
    • Arithmetic on rational numbers, complex numbers (rectangular and polar), error forms with standard deviations, open and closed intervals, vectors and matrices, dates and times, infinities, sets, quantities with units, and algebraic formulas.
    • Mathematical operations such as logarithms and trigonometric functions.
    • Programmer's features (bitwise operations, non-decimal numbers).
    • Financial functions such as future value and internal rate of return.
    • Number theoretical features such as prime factorization and arithmetic modulo M for any M.
    • Algebraic manipulation features, including symbolic calculus.
    • Moving data to and from regular editing buffers.
    • Embedded mode for manipulating Calc formulas and data directly inside any editing buffer.
    • Graphics using GNUPLOT, a versatile (and free) plotting program.
    • Easy programming using keyboard macros, algebraic formulas, algebraic rewrite rules, or extended Emacs Lisp.

    That list gives you a bit of an idea, but doesn't really capture how just darn cool Calc is; it just seems to do everything.... (The things I particularly value are the vector/matrix operations and the symbolic manipulation operators.)

    It's (default) model is HP-style RPN, except of course with a much larger visible stack, and multi-level undo.

    [You have to be careful tho because recent releases of Emacs come with two calculators -- a "simple" one, which you get with "M-x calculator", and the super incredible one you get with "M-x calc"... (yes it's kind of silly, but as usual with Emacs, there are historical reasons...]

    --
    We live, as we dream -- alone....
    1. Re:Emacs Calc by kinthalas · · Score: 5, Informative

      <'log(500!)>

      Computation got stuck or ran too long.  Type `M' to increase the limit

      <M>

      max-lisp-eval-depth is now 2000

      <'log(500!)>

      2611.33045846

  6. Re:Useless. by xororand · · Score: 5, Informative

    One of the mentioned calculators has a pretty usable CLI though: "Qalculate!" - a great calculator for dealing with units, especially currencies.

    Example:

    > sphere(2 furlong) * (1.293 g/m^3) to kilogram
    approx. 352739.273 kg

  7. Re:Christ by digitalhermit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.