bc is cool, but it can not access shell variables directly, but you can pass them with <<<

also there is no “pi” constant in bc that you could use in interactive mode.

let one assume you would like to calculate extend “umfang” of a circle with radius 5

the formula

Extend/Umfang U = 2 · π · r

the bash

pi=$(echo "scale=10; 4*a(1)" | bc -l); # calc value of pi 10 digits and store it in variable $pi
echo $pi; # test output
3.1415926532

bc <<< "scale=10 ; 2*$pi*5"; # do the calculation
31.4159265320

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