Want a free copy of PTC Mathcad Express? Download your copy today.
Authors: Hans Wesselingh, Hans de Waard
This course will help you to learn PTC Mathcad in 25 live lessons of an hour each. These cover worksheets, functions, plotting, programming, units, statistics, calculus, vectors and matrices, linear and non-linear equations and differential equations. Some hundred exercises include examples from applied math, physics, chemistry and physiology.
To begin, download the lessons and exercises from the PTC website. Open the first lesson in Prime 3.0 and work through it. The course consists of read-only Mathcad files, which can be viewed and modified in the free Mathcad Express. The course is also available as a book from Delft Academic Press. This can be ordered via Amazon.
What is New: The largest change in Prime 3.0 compared to Prime 2.0 is in the editing of equations. These are handled in lesson 6. You will find the new method of editing to be more natural than the old one: it closely follows that of other Windows programs. There are smaller changes in lesson 1 (the interface), lesson 3 (templates), lessons 7,8 an 9 (plotting) and lessons 10 (labels and global variables). We have partly rewritten lessons 11 and 12 on programming and lessons 13 through 16 on statistics.
Worksheets marked with 
use PTC Mathcad premium features, otherwise they are Express compatible. All worksheets created in PTC Mathcad Prime 3.0.
| Chapter | Exercise | Description |
|---|---|---|
Mind Map | PTC Mathcad is very useful for problems where you need to be flexible and creative: when you are learning a subject, doing homework, designing, or developing a new product or theory. You can even write a book in it, as this text shows. | |
| Handling of Text | Typing Exercise | PTC Mathcad has one great advantage over other programming languages: it is self-documenting. You will still be able to understand this Mathcad file if you load it in a years time. The program is not a full-fledged text editor, but as you can see in this chapter, text handling is good enough for many purposes. |
| Worksheet Layout | My Template | When doing a quick calculation, you may not worry about the layout of your worksheet. However, for a report or a book, the layout needs to be chosen such that it does not distract the reader. For that, PTC Mathcad has integrated lots of features. |
| Mathcad as Calculator | Quick Arithmetic | PTC Mathcad is a good calculator, certainly if you have a numerical keypad. It gives a record of calculations which can be easily stored or printed. |
| Variables and Functions | Destructive Definitions | When you have mastered the use of variables and functions you will begin to realize the capabilities of Mathcad. This chapter explains how to define and use variables and functions. |
| Editing of Equations | Edit Equations | To become a proficient user of PTC Mathcad you must learn to edit equations. For that, check out this chapter! |
| Ranges and Plots | Great Graphics Logistics Map and Chaos Pasting Plots | This chapter explains how a set of counting subscripts is formed using a range variable and how the range variable is applied in plotting of a function. |
| 2D Plots of Functions | Linked Lines Quadratic Quest Log Plots Fun Plots | In this chapter we can explore the many variations in plots. To do that we use the same terms as in lesson 7. Make sure you have the names of the plot elements in your mind. |
| 3D Plots of Functions | Spatial Symmetry Leaf of Descartes Donut Plot of a Spring | 3D plots in PTC Mathcad are similar to 2D plots. However, there are differences of which you should be aware of. PTC Mathcad has two kinds of 3D plots: the true 3D plot with three axes as well as the contour plot. Two find out more about them check out this chapter. |
| Labels and Units | My Template with Labels Food in the Body Dissolution of a Tablet Plate Viscometer Temperature in a Spray Dryer Volume of an Ideal Gas Falling Particle Flow from a Vessel Concentration in a Mixture Vapour Pressure of Water | In practical calculations you often need to use the same letter to describe different entities. For example the letter 'g' might be used to describe a variable, the unit gram, the gravitational acceleration and some function g(x). You can do this in PTC Mathcad without any confusion by giving these entities a different label. |
| Programming Branches | Cylinder Modified Truncated Sine Black or White Specifications of a Tablet Singular Singularities | PTC Mathcad contains a programming environment that greatly extends its capabilities. Despite the small number of commands you can construct the three main elements of any programming language: actions, branches and loops. That combined with the many other parts of Mathcad that you have learned in the previous chapters gives you humongous possibilities. |
| Programming Loops | Filling a Vector Filling a Matrix Counting Exam Scores Timing Sum of a Series While versus For | In this second lesson on programming the focus is on 'loops'. These repeat calculations in different ways - often many times. |
| Statistics | Start Simply Books per Student stdev Uniform Distribution Central Limit Theorem stdev of Means | In this lesson (and the following ones) we look at data which will be regarded as two vectors of equal length. We will show how to summarize the behaviour of data by the mean and the standard deviation. Further we discuss two of the random number generators in PTC Mathcad. |
| Distributions | Tossing a Coin Dice and Cards False Positives Standard Normal Distribution Binomial and Normal Packs of Sugar | In this chapter we look at a few probability distributions. The two main ones are discrete distributions and continuous distributions. To find out more about those, read this chapter! |
| Testing | Simple Samples New Machine for Tablets Jam and Bottle New Machine Again The t-Distribution Small Samples | This chapter considers sampling and testing of data. |
| Data Analysis | Response to Glucose Fitting a Quadratic Drug in the Body Different Lines | In this chapter we look at how to handle data, specifically how to find relations between variables from experiments. We will look at two techniques for handling experimental data: Data fitting (regression analysis) and interpolation between data points. |
| Input Output | Sunspots Excel Ellipse | You can use variables and functions from other Mathcad files in your worksheet. Further PTC Mathcad also allows you to read data from Excel and use Excel tables in your worksheets. |
| Symbolic Calculus | Some Derivatives Indefinite Integrals Slope Area and Average Limits Function with a Hole The Cannon Ball Fractal Lung | PTC Mathcad is a layout program in which you can place text and math regions. In the previous chapters, the math regions have been numerical. However, you can also use these to do 'symbolic' calculations. These will allow you to redo classic 'calculus' on the computer: differentiation, integration, limits, series... and all these operation with equations as you would write them. |
| Solve and Series | Linear Equations Cubic Equations More Problems Some Series Same Series | In this chapter we explore variations of symbolic evaluation using keywords and modifiers. We apply these to get a symbolic solution of equations, and to approximate a function as a series of polynomials. |
| Shapping Equations | Expand and Factor Evaluate and Simplify Partial Fractions Float and Assume Exponential Equations | Equations are often not in the form that you would like them to be. PTC Mathcad has several tools to help you shape equations by rearranging or substituting them. |
| Vectors and Matrices | Manipulating Matrices Symmetric and Skew-symmetric Dot Multiplication Simple Inverses Linear Equations Inverse of a 3x3 Matrix | You may know a lot about this subject without having realized. Calculations in Excel are vector and matrix operations. You can do these in PTC Mathcad with the advantage that calculations are much easier to follow and you are less likely to make any mistakes. |
| Linear Equations | Linear Equations A Linear Equations B Blood Circulation Short Plane Transformations | In these chapter we look at applications of vector and matrix algebra. These applications often require the solution of sets of linear equations. |
| Nonlinear Equations | Non-linear Equation Three Linear Equations Dissociation of a Weak Acid | PTC Mathcad can solve implicit sets of linear and non-linear equations. It does this with a clever multi-variable interation technique. If you provide an approximate solution, then the program will improve your estimate. Because of that you must understand the behavior of the functions that you are studying. |
| Solving with Functions | Guess Values Two Nonlinear Equations | Solving of equations is important for practical problems. For that PTC Mathcad has the function 'solve block' which you learn how to use in this chapter. . |
| Differential Equations | Differential Equations Absorption in the Intestines Cat and Mouse Equations Body and Drug | Ordinary differential equations contain two kinds of variable: dependent and independent. In this chapter you learn how to solve these in a solve block. |
| Ending | Ending | We like to end with two bits of advice. Firstly that real problems take longer and secondly there is a lot more in PTC Mathcad that you have seen in these chapters. For more details, check out this chapter. |
