Mathcad

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Mathcad
Mathcad PLUS 6.0 (1995)
Developed by	Mathsoft
Latest release	14.0 / February 12, 2007
OS	Microsoft Windows
Genre	Computer algebra system
License	Proprietary
Website	Mathcad

Mathcad is desktop software for performing and documenting engineering and scientific calculations. First introduced in 1986 on MS-DOS, it was the first to introduce live editing of typeset mathematical notation, combined with its automatic computation. It was also the first to automatically compute and check consistency of engineering units such as the International System of Units (SI). Mathcad today includes some of the capabilities of a computer algebra system but remains oriented towards ease of use and numerical engineering applications. Mathcad was conceived and originally written by Allen Razdow (of MIT), co-founder of Mathsoft which is now part of Parametric Technology Corporation.

Mathcad paved the way for a variety of desktop mathematical tools. Noted software metrician Capers Jones' study of 500 programming languages and programmable tools in the 1990s found Mathcad and Microsoft Excel to be number one and two in productivity (function-points per line of code).^{[citation needed]}

It is oriented around a worksheet, in which equations and expressions are displayed graphically (WYSIWYG), as opposed to plain text.

Among the capabilities of Mathcad are:

Solving differential equations, with several possible numerical methods
Graphing functions in two or three dimensions
The use of the Greek alphabet (upper and lower case) in both text and equations
Symbolic calculations
Vector and matrix operations
Symbolically solving systems of equations
Curve fitting
Implementing subprograms
Finding roots of polynomials and functions
Statistical functions and probability distributions
Finding eigenvalues and eigenvectors
Calculations in which units are bound to quantities

Although this program is mostly oriented to the non-programming users, it is also used in more complex projects to visualise results of the mathematical modelling using distributed computing and traditional programming languages. It is often used in large engineering projects where traceability and standards compliance are of importance.

Mathcad 2.52 (1989)

Mathcad 3.1 (1992)

[edit] Controversy

After PTC’s purchase of Mathcad, changes have been made to the Mathcad support policy. The new support policy specifies that single-user licenses are no longer able to receive updates without purchasing a maintenance contract,^[1] as is PTC’s standard policy for all its products.^[2] This applies not only to feature additions, but also to bug fixes.^[3] The price of a maintenance contract, approximately $240 USD, is roughly half the cost of a single-user license upgrade at the time of a major Mathcad release. The maintenance contract provides technical support, extension packs, libraries, a transferable license and other web-based tools for self-help.^[4] Some users who have purchased Mathcad found some of the functionality not performing as expected. As a result, they have expressed their disappointment and are disconcerted that they will not be supplied with fixes. The result has been a sudden and hostile user reaction.^{[citation needed]}