Terminal Calculations
Qalculate! is a well known GTK-based GUI calculator. For years I ignored it because I failed to realize that it included a terminal interface, qalc. Since learning about qalc last year it has become my go-to calculator. It supports all the same features as the GUI, including RPN and unit conversions. I primarily use GNU Units for unit wrangling, but being able to perform unit conversions within my calculator is sometimes useful.
$ qalc
> 1EUR to USD
It has been 20 day(s) since the exchange rates last were updated
Do you wish to update the exchange rates now? y
1 * euro = approx. $1.1137000
> 32oC to oF
32 * celsius = 89.6 oF
The RPN mode is not quite as intuitive as a purpose built RPN calculator like Orpie, but it is adequate for my uses. My most frequent use of RPN mode is totaling a long list of numbers without bothering with all those tedious + symbols.
> rpn on
> stack
The RPN stack is empty
> 85
85 = 85
> 42
42 = 42
> 198
198 = 198
> 5
5 = 5
> 659
659 = 659
> stack
1: 659
2: 5
3: 198
4: 42
5: 85
> total
total([659, 5, 198, 42, 85]) = 989
> stack
1: 989
Also provided are some basic statistics functions that can help save time.
> mean(2,12,5,3,1)
mean([2, 12, 5, 3, 1]) = 4.6
And of course there are the varaibles and constants you would expect
> 12+3*8)/2
(12 + (3 * 8)) / 2 = 18
> ans*pi
ans * pi = 56.548668
I reach for qalc more frequently than alternative calculators like bc, insect, or the Python shell.
