Hi Den:
Most shells only support integer arithmetic.
# X=100;Y=25;((Z=X/Y));echo $Z
If you want to incorporate real numbers, 'bc' provides a convenient vehicle. Choose the 'scale' to set the precision you want:
# X=1;Y=8;echo "scale=3\n $X/$Y"|bc
You can also leverage 'awk' and couple it with 'printf' to format output, including moving to a different number base:
# X=1;Y=8;echo "$X $Y"|awk '{printf "%.4f\n",$1/$2}'
# X=7;Y=8;echo "$X $Y"|awk '{printf "%4x\n",$1+$2}'
The standard Korn shell in HP-UX is Korn88 and does integer arithmetic. However, if you use the Korn93 (found in HP-UX as '/usr/dt/bin/dtksh') shell, its 'typeset' allows a more direct approach to real numbers:
#!/usr/dt/bin/dtksh
typeset -F R1
typeset -F3 R2
typeset -E R3
let R1=1/8
echo $R1
let R2=1/8
echo $R2
let R3=1/8
echo $R3
exit 0
Regards!
...JRF...
