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C
Cornel19-Tanzanite
19-Tanzanite
January 27, 2021
Question

Mathcad Vs Wolfram Mathematica

  • January 27, 2021
  • 7 replies
  • 11109 views

Hello Dear Friends,

 

What are your pros and cons regarding the use of these two math software for now and in the future?

What do you think about these two math software?

What choice would you make and what would be the arguments if you had to choose between these two for the future?

Thank you.

Best regards,
B. Cornel

 

7 replies

C
Cornel19-TanzaniteAuthor
19-Tanzanite
January 27, 2021

@Werner_E , @Fred_Kohlhepp , @LucMeekes , @ValeryOchkov 

What are your opinions?

U
uni13-Aquamarine
13-Aquamarine
January 27, 2021

Offer a set of problems, solve them with different tools, draw conclusions.

    W
    Werner_E25-Diamond I
    25-Diamond I
    January 27, 2021

    Mathcad and Mathematica are too different. What you would use depends on what exactly you need.

    Basically Mathcad is kind of a number cruncher with an ingenious, intuitive and easy-to-learn interface and a weak symbolic engine, while Mathematica is great when it comes to symbolic calculations.

    You may already know the different type of display philosophy of the two.

    Whatever you chose you'll have to keep in mind, that since PTC bought Mathcad, Mathcad is a dead end. Mathcad 15 isn't developed any further and Prime is ... Prime (judge yourself). I could hardly recommend Mathcad as a tool to a budding engineer.

     

      C
      Cornel19-TanzaniteAuthor
      19-Tanzanite
      January 28, 2021

      That is, do you mean that Mathcad 15 will remain in the form it is now (ie with these functionalities) 'forever' or in the near future it will not be able to be used even in its current form?

      F
      Fred_Kohlhepp23-Emerald I
      23-Emerald I
      January 28, 2021

      Mathcad 15 will remain "as is" with full capability until the computer operating system will not support it.  I suspect there will be some that try to hold a computer in stasis to be able to run it.  But like all programs, sooner or later they are no longer supported.  

      S
      SPRstructur15-Moonstone
      15-Moonstone
      January 28, 2021

      For me, In my field Engineering, Mathcad/Prime is my first choice. No need Coding and just apply math.

        F
        Fred_Kohlhepp23-Emerald I
        23-Emerald I
        January 28, 2021

        For me, In my field Engineering, Mathcad/Prime is my first choice. No need Coding and just apply math.

         

        I understand, Prime has the basic "ingenious and easy to use" interface Werner described that makes it an easy choice for someone who:

        • doesn't really like coding.  (like me!)
        • needs to produce an accurate document that can be passed directly to others who can understand standard mathematics but don't want or need to learn the details of the program.
        • still needs some powerful tools.

        But, as Werner also said, Mathcad under PTC has (and is) suffering.  There are features that were developed and are available in version 15 that still haven't made an appearance in Prime; every user who has endured the change will have their own list.  Mine include:

        • Being able to read work from (almost) any previous version and capable of writing back at least several versions.  Prime needs to learn to read Mathcad!
        • Native 3D graphics.  
        • Native 2D graphics that support axis titles, graph titles, and legends
        • Animations.  (I didn't use them as much as Val, but they were occasionally very useful.)
        • I was a big fan of one line solve blocks  (Given    constraint        Find = )

        I believe that PTC's intent is to append Prime to their CAD programs as a "built-in calculator."  The development trajectory of Prime does not suggest any other agenda.  But given the limited life of Mathcad 15 (and earlier), Prime is the only choice for the "ingenious and easy to use" interface!

          U
          uni13-Aquamarine
          13-Aquamarine
          January 28, 2021
          I believe that PTC's intent is to append Prime to their CAD programs as a "built-in calculator."  The development trajectory of Prime does not suggest any other agenda.  But given the limited life of Mathcad 15 (and earlier), Prime is the only choice for the "ingenious and easy to use" interface!

          There is an alternative:


          1. Curso SMath Studio CEI

          2. Introduction to SMath (Tanya J. Laird)

          3. Curso de SMath

           

          This is the statistics of downloads and it tends to grow.

          2021-01-28_23-20-47.png

          V
          24-Ruby IV
          ValeryOchkov24-Ruby IV
          24-Ruby IV
          January 28, 2021

          I use Mathcad, Maple, Mathematica... Not OR but AND!

            V
            24-Ruby IV
            ValeryOchkov24-Ruby IV
            24-Ruby IV
            January 29, 2021

            If you need to solve a not very difficult engineering problem, then the best tool for this is Mathcad
            If you have a very difficult engineering problem to solve, then neither Mathcad, nor Maple, nor Mathematica etc will help you. You need to look for specialized tools such COMSOL etc or start programming yourself with C, MATLAB etc.

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