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From: tif@doorstop.austin.ibm.com (Paul Chamberlain)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc
Subject: Re: Seeking SideKick-/spreadsheet-type functionality for AT&T 3B2
Message-ID: <4154@awdprime.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 90 17:56:41 GMT
References: <E6R6K6C@xds13.ferranti.com> <4254@lib.tmc.edu> <4079@awdprime.UUCP> <4260@lib.tmc.edu> <90304.163257FFAAC09@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>
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Reply-To: tif@doorstop.austin.ibm.com (Paul Chamberlain)
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In article <4260@lib.tmc.edu> jmaynard@thesis1.hsch.utexas.edu (Jay Maynard) writes:
>OK...but what's the bc equivalent to <DEC>64<f><WSIZE>564<CHS><HEX>?

	ob=16
	2^64-1-564

Now, would you like to try base 4?      :-)
Or how about the sqr(2) to 90 digits?   :-)
(Yea, I know, 16-C's can probably do integration in one keystroke,
or matrix inversion, etc.  You'd have to program most of that kind
of stuff in bc.  :-(  But at least I have a huge hard disk to store
programs  :-)  And the programs look like C, ain't life great!)

>Without scale=, it's next to impossible to get a useful answer from bc.

Somebody else just posted the same answer that I just came up with.  I
would use .bcrc to also store your favorite functions.

>Calculator designers work very hard at making their products usable with
>little to no effort. Why reinvent wheels?

They also make the keyboard and the display fit in the palm of your hand,
why make the keyboard and display so blasted inconvenient when you have
an entire desktop in front of you.  Not to mention, clicking calculator
buttons with a mouse is a pain in the %s.

My biggest bc complaint is that I don't think you can specify a number
in any base besides that which ibase is set to (i.e. 0x4C).

FFAAC09@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be (Nicole Delbecque & Paul Bijnens) writes:
>However a HP-like LASTX utility would be nice, like:
>   % bc
>   16 / 3
>   5.3333                  # remember automagicaly 4 digits precision
>   5.3333 * 4              # why do I have to enter 5.333 again?

This works fine for me (an undocumented side-effect I believe):

	16/3
	.*4

Paul Chamberlain | I do NOT represent IBM.     tif@doorstop, sc30661 at ausvm6
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