When I was younger, I was often told, “But you must be so good at math because of what you can do with a computer.”
However, there’s no connection to the ancients in that regard. I’m not good at math—that’s a fact! But that shouldn’t deter me from introducing you today to Kalker, a scientific calculator that operates in the terminal. It supports mathematical syntax and allows for the use of variables and functions of your choice, as well as differentiation, integration, and complex numbers.
With Kalker, you can effortlessly switch between the most basic operators (+, -, *, /) and more specialized ones such as factorials (!), percentages (%), and even manipulate groups with parentheses (), brackets [], and utilize ceiling (⌈ceil⌉) and floor (⌊floor⌋) functions. And what about vectors and matrices? Most of these concepts are beyond me, but if they pique your interest, Kalker enables you to handle these structures as easily as you would simple numbers on your Windows calculator.
Yes, it’s available on Windows, but also on Linux and macOS. And, you can access it online, allowing you to test it directly from your browser.
The beauty of Kalker lies in its adaptability to your specific needs. You can define your own functions and variables, for example, storing a complex formula in a custom function and using it as simply as .f(x).
I’ll stop here to avoid further inaccuracies, but if you’re interested in installing it, this is where to go.
In a similar vein, but with support for more physical units (such as speed, currency, frequency, voltage, etc.), there’s also Numbat, which you can explore here.
