bc

An arbitrary precision calculator language. See also: dc, qalc. More information: https://manned.org/bc.

• Start an interactive session:

bc

• Start an [i]nteractive session with the standard math [l]ibrary enabled:

bc --interactive --mathlib

• Calculate an expression:

echo '5 / 3' | bc

• Execute a script:

bc path/to/script.bc

• Calculate an expression with the specified scale:

echo 'scale = 10; 5 / 3' | bc

• Calculate a sine/cosine/arctangent/natural logarithm/exponential function using mathlib:

echo 's|c|a|l|e(1)' | bc --mathlib

• Execute an inline factorial script:

echo "define factorial(n) { if (n <= 1) return 1; return n*factorial(n-1); }; factorial(10)" | bc