ic

View documentation for the original command

$ tldr ibmcloud

ic [expression]

ic is a lightweight, interactive calculator designed for quick mathematical computations directly from the Linux shell. It supports standard infix mathematical expressions with operators like +, -, *, /, and ^ for exponentiation, along with parentheses for grouping.

Key features include:
• Trigonometric functions: sin(), cos(), tan(), asin(), acos(), atan()
• Log and exp: log(), ln(), exp()
• Common functions: sqrt(), abs(), floor(), ceil(), round()
• Constants: pi, e
• Variables: assign with =, e.g., x=5; x*2
• Bases: hex (0xFF), octal (0o777), binary (0b101)

In interactive mode (ic), enter expressions line-by-line; results print immediately. Quit with Ctrl-D or empty line. For one-shot use: ic 'expr'. Uses double-precision floating point. No readline support by default, keeping it fast and minimal. Ideal for scripts or ad-hoc calculations where bc feels heavy.

No command-line options or flags; positional expression only. Double precision limits accuracy for very large/small numbers. No expression history, scripting, or complex numbers. Interactive mode reads from stdin exclusively.

ic
pi/2
1.5708
sin(pi/2)
1
0x10 + 0b11
19
quit

ic 'sqrt(144)+sin(pi)'
12

sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan, sinh, cosh, tanh,
log, ln, log10, exp, sqrt, cbrt, abs, floor, ceil, round, hypot.

Developed by Nick Bowler starting around 2009 as a simple C-based calculator. Hosted on GitHub (nickbowler/ic), packaged in Debian/Ubuntu since ~2010. Focuses on minimalism and shell integration, avoiding dependencies like readline.

bc(1), dc(1), calc(1)