title: How to get bc to handle numbers in scientific (aka exponential) notation?
body: <p><code>bc</code> doesn't like numbers expressed in scientific notation (aka exponential notation).</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ echo "3.1e1*2" | bc -l
  (standard_in) 1: parse error
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I need to use it to handle a few records that are expressed in this notation. Is there a way to get <code>bc</code> to understand exponential notation? If not, what can I do to translate them into a format that <code>bc</code> will understand?</p>