On 5/17/2011 7:50 PM, rcs@xmission.com wrote:

This is from Dan Asimov. --Rich

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Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 17:10:16 -0700 (GMT-07:00) Subject: MathCad -- do you like it? From: Dan Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> To: math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com>

I've been asked my opinion of MathCad as a tool, but as I had to say, I have no experience with it.

But among those of you who do, anything you can say on these points will be much appreciated:

* What is your overall opinion of it and why?

Generally unfavorable. The software has very, very limited symbolic capabilities, which I think is enough to have it not deserve the name "MathCAD". It is primarily numerical. But it was not made for large scale or high precision numerical calculations. So in all, at least in my experience, it's really just a calculator of sorts. They have attempted to emulate an actual notebook. You can place calculations, text, etc. anywhere on the page, and cross reference. It sounds good on theory, but is very messy in practice, especially if you want to do rapid-fire experiments. They claim you can make publication-quality documents, but that is a joke.

* In particular, to what extent does it have a wide range of mathematical applications?

I think I sort of answered this in the last answer. I'd say it has more appeal to engineers and not mathematicians. From their data sheet (almost) verbatim: - More than 17 arithmetic operators - 12 vector/matrix operators - 2 derivative operators - 5 integral and limit operators - 9 evaluation operators - 10 Boolean operators

* What kinds of math graphics might you have noticed to be beyond its capabilities?

Most CASs have graphics that are well beyond the capabilities of MathCAD. You get some statistical plots (e.g., box-and-whisker), your standard 2D plots, contour plots, etc. But they are limited.

Please note:

@ Anything you write will not be attributed to you (or even to math-fun), but rather described as what "members of a group of my smart friends" said.

@ If you respond, please let me know if you prefer *not* to be quoted directly. Otherwise I may be lazy and just copy some or all of what you wrote into my summary.

Doesn't matter to me.

Thanks,

Dan

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