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Mathcad Prime worksheet Running Slow Compared to Mathcad 15 Worksheet

NH_10046893
2-Guest

Mathcad Prime worksheet Running Slow Compared to Mathcad 15 Worksheet

I am using Mathcad Prime 7.0 7.0.0.0

I have just finished converting a Mathcad 15 worksheet to Prime. The worksheet is around 200 pages of simple calculations. The worksheet features 1 page where parameters are input.
Matchad 15 calculated any changes to the input parameters almost instantly. Maybe 2-3 seconds max.
Whereas the Prime sheet is incredibly slow. taking up to 32 minutes to finish calculating.
there are no complex calculations to be conducted so it is worrying that the newer version of prime is under performing compared to the older version mathcad 15.

Has anyone faced this issue and found any solutions?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Hi

Thought I'd run some simple tests of speed in Prime and Mathcad.

Using numbers (up to about the matrix size that can be held in memory in Mathcad) Prime is slightly faster 4.9 to 7.3.  Prime can hold far larger matrices

Capture.JPG

Using text processing on a smaller matrix Mathcad is far faster than Prime 8.7 to 25.2

Capture2.JPG

So it appears it matters what is being processed as to which is faster.  Prime is sad in text processing?

Looks like you will be joining many others on this forum who think Prime has a way to go to be as good as Mathcad.

Cheers

Terry

View solution in original post

15 REPLIES 15

Hi,

One suggestion is to set multithreading calculation option if you have a processor with a number of cores.

Capture.JPG

Cheers

Terry

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the reply.

 

However, Multithreading is selected and worksheet still calculates really slow!.

 

Cheers,

NH

Hi

Thought I'd run some simple tests of speed in Prime and Mathcad.

Using numbers (up to about the matrix size that can be held in memory in Mathcad) Prime is slightly faster 4.9 to 7.3.  Prime can hold far larger matrices

Capture.JPG

Using text processing on a smaller matrix Mathcad is far faster than Prime 8.7 to 25.2

Capture2.JPG

So it appears it matters what is being processed as to which is faster.  Prime is sad in text processing?

Looks like you will be joining many others on this forum who think Prime has a way to go to be as good as Mathcad.

Cheers

Terry

Thanks Terry. This would appear to be the answer. The worksheet contains many matrices and operations involving text processing.

I'm sure I will be able to come up with some ways to sub for numbers and avoid text processing.

Thanks again!

NH

I wish MathCad 15 licenses could be renewed? Difficulty of text processing is a lame excuse.

Do_the_Math731
5-Regular Member
(To:ptc-1834117)

Amen that. I check now for a magic bullet that has thus far escaped PTC. I'll be retired before Prime has anything close to what I do with Mathcad 15.  A shame and loss for the Math / Engineering community. If PTC has a reason for hope, please share.

What is your OS and the amount of RAM?

This doesn't answer the question. Forget about matrices. Why does Prime 8.0 so sluggish to calculate a given file >30 min but MathCad 15 solves in ❤️ sec? Please answer the question as posed.

 

Do_the_Math731
5-Regular Member
(To:ptc-1834117)

100% Agree. I've added my thoughts in a reply on this thread. Cheers.

Do_the_Math731
5-Regular Member
(To:NH_10046893)

I notice that the question that you've posed is deemed "solved". I agree with ptc-1834117 who correctly states otherwise. Regardless of the PC, RAM, or whatnot, Prime 8.0 is unacceptably slow. What is the reason? What is the difference between Prime and Mathcad 15.0 that causes this?

 

My engineering staff works extensively with large matrices. I will not pay them to wait 30 minutes for results that they had generated previously in seconds. I WILL pay them to learn alternative software that will clearly pay for itself if PTC can't reverse this leap backwards. 

 

Now, please answer the question. Does PTC intend to remedy this?

 

 

 

Hi NH_10046893,

 

Many apologies for replying to your community post so long after you raised this issue.

 

Have you been in contact with tech support about the issue you see? Do you have a tech support case number you can share with me? That is the best way for issues - including performance issues - to be seen by the Mathcad R&D team. If you haven't and would like to, please direct message me and we can discuss how we can get the relevant information from you to begin looking into your specific issue. If your worksheet is available for us to look at ourselves, I can get both the R&D team and our subject matter expert team to take a look at it to identify what is causing the performance slowdown.

 

Mathcad Prime is based on different architecture to Mathcad 15.0, and we do get feedback from customers on particular performance differences between the two applications. I understand it's frustrating - performance improvement is an ongoing task for us. Feedback like this really helps us identify where enhancements need to be made, so I do appreciate this information.

 

Many thanks,


Andy.

I brought up this issue with the PTC support 6 month ago, but they have no solutions.

I also have a 200 page long program with simple calculations. In past, if I changed a variable value in MathCad 15, the whole sheet would be solved in a few seconds (5 sec most) - all numbers on the screen will be updated. However, in the PTC Mathcad, if I change just one variable value, it will takes 30 min or more to update numbers on the screen. Changing 3-4 variables crashes program - providing error message like 'unresolved Exception ..' providing no clue to the issue. I was happy with MathCAD 15, but PTC has made it unfunctional - now I can't print out matrix values on the screen.

PTC should have made the new PTC MathCad fully functional before killing MathCad 15.

The new PTC MathCad has reduced my productivity to <10% compared to MathCad 15.  While they are fixing the new MathCad, they should reactivate the MathCad 15.

To say the least, I am highly disappointed with the new PTC MathCad.  I have been using MathCad for > 30 yrs and it's not easy to move over to Matlab.

Does PTC automatically update MathCad Prime or I have to do so manually?


@SK_10322659 wrote:

Does PTC automatically update MathCad Prime or I have to do so manually?


Looks to me that automatic updating would be too much to be asked for for this PTC software.

You have to download the full new version and install it manually. Most versions can be installed in parallel so its your decision to delete the older version or not.

I'm up to Prime 9.0 now and I still run into the same issue as well. We generate calc sheets that are 20 - 30 pp long, with calcs interwoven with text, and calculations that used to take a few seconds now takes a couple of minutes. One would think that by version 9.0 most of the performance issues would be worked out. At what point will Prime be on par with legacy Mathcad? I think enough people have complained that PTC needs to prioritize this.

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