No, it's often not, it's one of the common package you install manually to compile a linux kernel

> I don't remember ever installing bc, but I use it frequently and it's always there. Are you sure it's not already part of most base systems?

In my bash scripts, using `bc` makes my script not work on git-bash under Windows. Almost everything else I do in a script that isn't linux-specific (including netcat/nc usage) runs in git-bash for Windows.

It's not pre-installed on Debian and SUSE.

It's part of posix and should be available anywhere a posix like environment is offered.