PTC Announces Mathcad 14

By DE Editors

Mathcad 14.0, which is scheduled for release the middle of February,includes solver improvements, a symbolic math update, single-statementdefinition and evaluation, a visual update that makes it more closelyresemble how a mathematician would work on paper, and the addition ofItalian, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean language versions. Mathcad 14.0represents the first global release of the program under the PTC (Needham, MA) aegis since PTC acquired Mathsoft Engineering and Education last May.

Mathcad 14.0 now includes full UNICODE support, improving usability ofthe program. With about 2,000 new characters and symbols included inthe program, it improves clarity of documentation, allows for betterformatting and printing capability, and improves IP capture and reuse.Mathcad 14 allows for more compact notation, allowing users tocalculate and view math solutions inline, rather than using multiplefields that require continued scrolling up and down a page.
 
The latest version also takes advantage of improved differentialequation solving and algorithms for faster, more reliable solutions.The enhancements improve documentation and allow for a broader range ofengineering design problems to be solved, and results in feweradjustments of tolerances or methods.

After a rundown of enhancements from Sandy Joung, PTC’s director ofproduct marketing, media representatives and analysts were treated to ademonstration of Mathcad 14 that pointed up its improved speed andincreased simplicity.

After the demo, Greg O’Neill, a senior RF engineer from SkyCross Inc.(Viera, FL), which makes antennae for the wireless market, describedhow his team used a beta version of Mathcad 14. He used it to developmathematical parameters to drive Pro/Engineer geometry in the design ofa new wireless antenna for a personal video player/phone in wide use inSouth Korea.

He called the program “invaluable” for its ability to calculate andfacilitate the easy identification and recording of mistakes andmisplaced decimals, etc., leading to “focused optimization” of RFdesign.

For more information, visit ptc.com.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.