Scaling Intensity Ranges
This practical shows how to use bc for general real number calculations (particularly divisions) and how fslstats and fslmaths can rescale and convert images. The content is more advanced and hence optional for those new to scripting.
  1. Floating point division using bc
    To do general floating point division, you must add scale=val;
    For example
      var=`echo "scale=5; 5.4 / 1.9" | bc`
    The scale part specifies the numbers of decimal places in the output.
    Also note that the double quotes are necessary to stop the semicolon terminating the echo command.

  2. Scaling and converting image intensities
    The max and min intensity values for a given image can be found using fslstats.
    Separate and store these values by piping the output into awk (see theory slide)
    Given these values work out the scaling factor and offset required to force the intensity range to be within 0 to 255 (using bc).
    Apply the scaling and offset using fslmaths and then (in another call) convert the datatype to 8bit by using:
      fslmaths input output -odt char

    Look here to find the cheat.