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ptc-52352401-Visitor
1-Visitor
Jun 11, 2014 6:49 PM UTC
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New to Mathcad

I am new to Mathcad and need a little help.

First, does anyone know what this means phi.JPGI understand it is some kind of function. The deltas are displacements.

Second, what is a good source for learning more about Mathcad?

MikeArmstrongAnswer
1-Visitor
Jun 11, 2014 7:42 PM UTC

Christopher Wright wrote:

I am new to Mathcad and need a little help.

First, does anyone know what this means phi.JPGI understand it is some kind of function. The deltas are displacements.

Can't really tell from the image, it looks simply like a user input formula. Can you upload the worksheet.

Second, what is a good source for learning more about Mathcad?

I would suggest going through the tutorials within Mathcad and asking any questions you have on here and you will do fine.

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11 replies

MikeArmstrong1-VisitorAnswer
1-Visitor
Jun 11, 2014 7:42 PM UTC

Christopher Wright wrote:

I am new to Mathcad and need a little help.

First, does anyone know what this means phi.JPGI understand it is some kind of function. The deltas are displacements.

Can't really tell from the image, it looks simply like a user input formula. Can you upload the worksheet.

Second, what is a good source for learning more about Mathcad?

I would suggest going through the tutorials within Mathcad and asking any questions you have on here and you will do fine.

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Werner_E
Werner_E25-Diamond I
25-Diamond I
Jun 11, 2014 9:58 PM UTC

First, does anyone know what this means phi.JPGI understand it is some kind of function. The deltas are displacements.

We cannot say much from a small picture, but at least we can see that you are using Mathcad 15 or below and that you have View Regions turned on 😉

Give it a try - open your sheet, click on the Phi in your expression and press F1 - you will get help for the Heaviside function. Phi is Mathcad's implementation of the Heaviside Step function. That functions returns zero for negative values and +1 for positive values. There are different implementations as to what should happen if the argument is zero - Mathcad returns 0.5 in that case.

So the expression you show returns +1 if Delta is greater than Delta0. Yo can see it as the step is moved so it does not occur at Zero but at Delta0.

11.06.png

Most of us learned to use the software by doing. The built-in help with its Tutorials, Quicksheets and E-Books is a good place to start and many of us have learned a lot by simply listening to the discussions in the old collab forum and now here in this community.

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ptc-52352401-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
Jun 12, 2014 11:51 AM UTC

Thanks Werner for the excellent example of a heaviside function and for the learning tips.

Chris

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ptc-52352401-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
Jun 12, 2014 11:35 AM UTC

Thanks Mike,

I finally did find the help information on the Heaviside function, but based upon what I read it is not how it is being used.

I have attached the file that contains the formula I showed in my first post. From the graphs it produces I can see it is not a heaviside function.

I inherited the file as a 2D problem and added the 3D formulas. I thought I understood the functions until I started to change the boundary conditions, then I became confused. After working on these types of problems all day your mind begins to play tricks on you. Today is a new day.

Thanks for the training ideas. I did the tutorials, but I want to learn more. I will try your suggestions.

Chris

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AlanStevens19-Tanzanite
19-Tanzanite
Jun 12, 2014 11:49 AM UTC

... From the graphs it produces I can see it is not a heaviside function.

Sure it is. What makes you think it isn't?

Alan

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ptc-52352401-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
Jun 12, 2014 11:52 AM UTC

Alan,

The results are not 0 or 1.

Chris

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