The leading math solver gets even more advanced
Mathcad Prime 10 is perhaps the best-known of all the math processors. It is to math what AutoCAD is to CAD. Since its inception, it has filled the gap between scientific calculators and programmable numerical solutions. Its WYSIWYG interface creates equations as well as the best math formatting software but with one big distinction: it solves them. Unlike spreadsheet formulas that must be entered left to right in code with a confusing number of parentheses, Mathcad formulas pop up on the screen as if you had created them with pencil and paper — only much neater. And the best part for engineers working in a mixed environment (Imperial or Metric units) is that Mathcad gets units. You can mix and match units in the same equation and change the units in the result. Mathcad doesn’t miss a beat; the proper result is immediately updated.
But that is all old news now. Enter Mathcad Prime 10, the latest version of Mathcad. It does all that previous versions do and more with additional symbolic and numeric engines and usability enhancements.
With Mathcad Prime 10, you can click on an item in an input list and edit the script. (Image: PTC.)
The new advanced input scriptable controls include a list box, checkbox, textbox, radio button, group, slider and button, all of which can be configured for input and output. Right-click on an item in a list box, for example, and the underlying script is revealed for your curiosity or modification. The scripting environment supports both VBScript and JavaScript.
Users can dynamically populate items in every input type, such as a list box, checkbox, radio or buttons, with a slider. A slider control can be placed wherever there is an input variable. Moving the slider bar for an independent variable will affect all dependent variables, such as the Y variable on an X-Y plot.
Various YouTube tutorials show how to use Advanced Input Controls on radio buttons and list boxes, sliders, checkboxes, text boxes and buttons.
With Mathcad Prime 10, the background color of a text box can change depending on the values contained, such as red for a net force greater than a defined threshold, as shown. (Image: PTC.)
Another new feature in Mathcad Prime 10 is using a script in a text box. Users can automatically set the text content and background color of the textbox based on a condition defined in the script, such as changing the background color to red if the value exceeds an allowable force, as shown above.
Users can also now apply subscript and superscript formatting in text boxes. Watch this YouTube tutorial to learn how.
Mathcad Prime 10 gives two options for solving the genfit function. (Image: PTC.)
Mathcad Prime 10 lets users choose a solving algorithm for functions and definite integrals. For functions such as pdesolve, odesolve, numol, genfit, polyroots, find, minimize, maximize and minerr, users can right-click and select an algorithm from the list or keep the default. For partial differential equations (PDEs), the pdesolve function supports setting mixed, implicit and explicit boundary conditions and understands units in PDE sets.
Prime 10 also includes advanced controls that let you use the Mathcad API to interact with other applications.
Symbolic math
Mathcad Prime 10 supports Big-O notation with series expansion. (Image: PTC.)
Mathcad Prime 10 now does the Big O, a notation used by computer scientists for describing the limiting behavior of a function as it approaches a singularity. The new version allows for Big-O notation with series expansion.
Prime 10 will show the constant of integration in indefinite integrals and has a better understanding of fully, fact and max keywords.
There are general improvements for the keywords rewrite, solve, and simplify. Rewrite is expanded with five new modifiers, arg, atan2, fact, sign and Φ, to allow rewriting expressions in their respective terms. Solve and simplify have many additional supported use cases.
If all of the mentioned features are not enough, Mathcad Prime 10 adds more integrals to solve and functions to rewrite, solve or simplify.
All told, PTC’s Mathcad Prime 10 solidifies its position as an advanced math solver for academics, scientists and researchers.
