Linux dc Command with Practical Examples

Introduction

In this lab, you will learn how to use the powerful dc command-line calculator tool in Linux. The dc command allows you to perform a wide range of arithmetic operations, from basic calculations to advanced functions like trigonometry and logarithms. You will start by understanding the basic usage of the dc command, then practice performing various arithmetic operations, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Finally, you will explore more advanced features of the dc command to solve complex calculations.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet

Skills Graph

Understand the dc Command

In this step, you will learn about the dc command, a powerful command-line calculator tool in Linux. The dc command allows you to perform various arithmetic operations, including basic calculations, as well as more advanced operations like trigonometric functions, logarithms, and more.

Let's start by understanding the basic usage of the dc command.

To launch the dc interactive mode, simply type dc in the terminal:

$ dc

This will bring you to the dc prompt, where you can start entering your calculations.

Example output:

$

In the dc prompt, you can enter numeric values and perform various operations using the available commands. For example, to perform a simple addition, you can type:

3 4 +

Example output:

7

In the above example, we entered the numbers 3 and 4, then used the + operator to add them together.

The dc command supports a wide range of arithmetic operations, including subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and more. You can also use functions like sin, cos, tan, log, and others to perform advanced calculations.

To exit the dc interactive mode, you can type quit or press Ctrl+D.

Perform Basic Arithmetic Operations with dc

In this step, you will learn how to use the dc command to perform basic arithmetic operations.

Let's start by practicing some simple calculations in the dc interactive mode.

$ dc

To add two numbers:

5 7 +

Example output:

12

To subtract two numbers:

10 4 -

Example output:

6

To multiply two numbers:

3 4 *

Example output:

12

To divide two numbers:

15 3 /

Example output:

5

You can also chain multiple operations together:

2 3 + 4 *

Example output:

20

In the above example, we first added 2 and 3, then multiplied the result by 4.

To exit the dc interactive mode, you can type quit or press Ctrl+D.

Utilize dc for Advanced Calculations

In this step, you will learn how to use the dc command to perform more advanced calculations, including trigonometric functions, logarithms, and exponents.

Let's start by exploring some advanced operations in the dc interactive mode.

$ dc

To calculate the sine of a value:

30 s p

Example output:

0.5

To calculate the cosine of a value:

45 c p

Example output:

0.7071067811865476

To calculate the natural logarithm of a value:

10 l p

Example output:

2.302585092994046

To calculate the base-10 logarithm of a value:

100 L p

Example output:

2

To calculate the exponential of a value:

2 e p

Example output:

7.38905609893065

You can also combine these advanced operations with basic arithmetic to perform more complex calculations.

To exit the dc interactive mode, you can type quit or press Ctrl+D.

Summary

In this lab, you learned about the powerful dc command-line calculator tool in Linux. You started by understanding the basic usage of dc, including how to launch the interactive mode and perform simple arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You then explored more advanced capabilities of dc, such as using functions for trigonometric calculations and logarithms. Throughout the lab, you practiced various examples to reinforce your understanding of the dc command and its versatility in performing complex mathematical computations from the terminal.

Linux Commands Cheat Sheet