Searching for a libre calculator program
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Hello people, how are all of you?
I am a happy user of Trisquel since ten years ago and I visit this forum frequently in order to solve may daily issues with libre software.
While I was at the university, long time ago, I used a HP 48G calculator for solving equations. Its functioning was very simple: I wrote the formula and then I replaced the variables with their respective values, it did no matter if the needed variable was cleared out or not, the calculator solved it automatically.
For example, if I wanted to work with the equation:
C^2 = A^2 + B^2 -2*A*B*cos θ
I was able to simply enter any set of values, for instance C, A and B, and the calculator would solve the equation for θ. Or let us say, enter C, A and θ, the calculator would solve the equation for B. An so forth.
I am trying to find a simple libre program for doing the same, but I only find complex tools like octave, maxima, sagemath, xcas and geogebra (these last two with very questionable policies for licensing).
If there is no simpler option than one of the referred programs, I would appreciate any link to the relevant documentation. Please excuse my mistakes. English is not my first language, and therefore reviewing the documentation of complex programs is not very easy for me.
I appreciate any suggestion you can offer to me.
Whishing you the best. Have a happy end of year and a great 2026.
I am a member!
I can't give you any details, but maybe you can use LibreOffice Calc to solve equations.
Hello! I don't know any *simple* program. Maybe try some CAS, as you've noticed? For those I recommend SymPy or SageMath. They are present in Trisquel repos. It shouldn't be that hard.)
I am a translator!
I just found qalculate (package: qalculate-gtk).
By default, it seems the only unknown variables you can use are n (integer), x, y and z. If I enter x2=y2+z2-2xy, it gives x as a function of y and z. Perhaps it is possible to use more unknown variables but I am not sure.
I used to have an HP48SX, so I understand what you are talking about. I'll search a bit more. I remember someone in my class had another HP calculator that had a much more sophisticated symbolic calculus program, able to sum series and do complex integration.