Mathcad Tips

Hi Mathcad community members,   For those of you who don't know me (some do), my name is Andrew McGough and I'm the product manager for Mathcad here at PTC. I have talked to some of you in the past individually, but I don't get to participate as much as I'd like on the community. I hope this announcement is the start of me being able to be more active here.   I would like to share with you that PTC is announcing the end-of-sale for the following versions of PTC Mathcad, effective December 31, 2021:   Mathcad 15  Mathcad Prime 1.0 – Prime 6.0     Effective January 1, 2022, the only version of PTC Mathcad available for subscription will be PTC Mathcad Prime 7 and future versions of PTC Mathcad Prime. After December 31, 2021, PTC will no longer have the right to sell or distribute software versions moving to end of sale due to a third-party component contained in those versions.    I appreciate the passion of our Mathcad userbase, so I would like to pass along some additional information on a helpful offer. If you currently have a subscription license and wish to continue using your current version of PTC Mathcad while you evaluate Mathcad Prime 7, we are offering a multi-year renewal option that will give you the ability to use your current version for up to four additional years. If you decide to take advantage of this offer, it is important to place the order prior to December 7, 2021 to ensure no issues in booking the order or the subscription start date. PTC may decline or be unable to process orders received after that date. Please contact your PTC account representative or PTC partner for more information.    Please bear in mind that the use of old versions of software does introduce implicit risk in areas of security, hardware, and software platform support.    PTC will continue to provide technical support access, phone assistance and expert input for versions of Mathcad that have reached end-of-sale. PTC will not be able to issue new licenses or provide access to software downloads for end-of-sale versions.    Our customers in English-speaking countries received the End-of-Sale announcement on February 17, 2021. Our global customers are receiving the localized communication now.    We have put together multiple resources for you to answer your questions. Please refer to our FAQ for more information. We know this is a big change so the Mathcad team will be monitoring this thread for feedback.   Best regards,  Andrew McGough,  Product Manager, PTC 

Let’s face it, planetary gears are cool. They are used in all kinds of mechanisms, including transmissions, motors, and turbines. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to use Mathcad to build a worksheet that calculates the gear ratios and output speeds of a planetary gear under different configurations. The math behind the gear ratios is straightforward. But users should be able to select: The sun or planet carrier as the input; The planet carrier or ring as the output; and, The ring, sun, or planet carrier as the stationary component. How can the user select the desired component? How can you add intelligence to the worksheet to prevent an incorrect combination of input, output, and stationary? What inputs do you want for your calculator? You will have to make some choices. Your choices could include: Number of planets Number of teeth Component diameters Module / pitch Tools that you might consider include Combo boxes, programs, and functions involving strings. Here are some technical references to get you started: KHK Gears Instructables How Stuff Works Once again, this is a great project for students to work on in teams. Make the worksheet as simple or as complicated as you want. Others can build on your work, and you can build on others. Let’s see what the community can create! Good luck!   Find the Mathcad Community Challenge Guidelines here!

Mathcad Contest Idea - January 2022 Plane Truss Mechanics Can you use Mathcad to solve this problem?   This comes from page 88 of “An Introduction to the Mechanics of Solids,” by Stephen H. Crandall, Norman C. Dahl, and Thomas J. Lardner. This was the text for the first mechanical engineering class (2.01 Mechanics) that I took my sophomore year at MIT way back in 1989. You can find the book for as little as $5 on Amazon. It shows three different solutions for the problem, including: closed-form solutions involving equilibrium of forces and the beam-deflection equation a computer program called IBM STRESS Castigliano’s theorem which solves via elastic energy. Any introductory mechanics text or a Schaum’s Outline should guide you to a solution. As with the other contests that will follow this one, the point is not the answer to the problem, but your execution of the solution. Some ideas you may consider including in your worksheet: Allowing the user to change the material via a Combo Box Input Controls. Depicting the results with a Chart Component, such as the truss in the deformed shape, or the deflection at D due to changing input loads. Making the problem more open-ended, such as using matrices and programming for different geometry and loading. Note that these are just ideas; I have not tried any of these. Maybe you can explore different approaches. The problem is simply a starting point. This is an excellent problem for a team to solve, especially for civil and mechanical engineering students. How would you tackle this problem in Mathcad?   Find the Mathcad Community Challenge Guidelines here!  

A Mathcad user for 25 years, Professor Valery (‘Val’) Ochkov takes to the mountains when not involved in developing training and educational software for fossil and nuclear power plants.  He’s shown below in the Chimbulak region of Kazakstahn.   Val has long been involved in the Mathcad community! See the photo of the “Mathcad Clock.”       This is from a post back in 2010!  Beyond answering questions, Valery is also known for using math equations to create designs and authoring Mathcad trivia challenges for other community members to participate in. Some of the more entertaining challenges might be the Hare and Snell’s law and the Problem of Cockroach Races.  The Bicycle Post where Valery quizzes the community on how to solve “How many strokes with a bicycle pump need to be done to inflate the tire to 5atm” also inspired engagement. When asked for hobbies that don’t involve hiking boots, Val assured us his hobbies really are writing books and articles about Mathcad.   He’s now deeply interested in using Mathcad for STEM education, the subject of his latest book, 2⁵ Problems for STEM Education 2 (2020). He says collaborations with community members were critical to developing the material.  Way to go Mathcad Community!  Keep Collaborating! Keep engaging and great things like a book is born!            

Creo Parametric 2.0 integration with Mathcad Prime 3.0.     (view in My Videos)

This month's challenge is another geometry-based challenge - but it's non-Euclidean geometry. Given the following three points on a circle of radius 10 units, calculate the area of the spherical triangle: (5.339, 6.948, 4.819) (-4.018, -3.703, 8.375) (6.455, -6.679, -3.705) (Note that the point coordinates are rounded to three decimal places.)   Optional: Can you write a program or function that calculates the area for any three points on the surface? Is there a symbolic evaluation for three generic points (a,b,c), (d,e,f), and (g,h,k)?   Here is a 3D model in Creo 9 of the sphere and points:   Find the Mathcad Community Challenge Guidelines here!   Edit: the coordinates of the second point were incorrect. Wildly incorrect. I have no idea how I wrote down the wrong numbers.

The first two challenges were biased towards mechanical engineering. May’s challenge pertains to geometry. Create a worksheet in which you calculate (1) the diameter of a circle and (2) the length of a side of a square that yields the minimum combined area for a combined perimeter of 1 meter. This is an optimization problem. What tools within Mathcad can provide you with a result? Optional: How can you depict the results? Can you use a 2D plot or Chart Component to visualize the answer? Find the Mathcad Community Challenge Guidelines here!  

Solution: Mathcad Single User and Student Licenses can be transferred by using the link.  Select the version and enter the product code  Enter the new HOST ID onto which the license needs to be transferred - To correctly identify the Host ID on new machine, go to Windows Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt > type ipconfig/all (ENTER) and with the Physical Address below the Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection there stands the Host ID -  Click on #Submit Request Below is the sample email triggered with new HOST ID license file (attachment)    Please save this license file to a secure location on your computer.  

Hi all! I'm pleased to announce that while Mathcad Prime 8 is releasing March 2022, we at PTC have just published a blog article letting you all know in advance what is being included! And PTC Community are the first ones to know. Check it out: https://www.mathcad.com/en/blogs/whats-mathcad-prime8   We'll post another announcement when Mathcad Prime 8 is actually released.   In the meantime, we've opened up registration for our accompanying What's New in Mathcad Prime 8 webinar coming March 22, 2022. I plan to moderate it, with Mathcad product manager Andrew McGough demoing the functionality in much more detail. The webinar will end with a live question and answer session.   Mathcad Prime 8 Webinar March 22   (Note that I'm not able to answer your Mathcad Prime 8 questions on this post, but Andy will certainly be able to in that webinar.)   Thanks!

PTC Mathcad Community Challenge is a bimonthly event where we pose a math problem for you to collaborate and solve using Mathcad Prime.

https://www.engineering.com/story/my-top-3-engineering-nightmares-expert-shares-the-truth-on-software-selection   Anji Seberino, the head of our PTC Mathcad Application Engineer team, recently took some time to interview with engineering.com about her top 3 engineering nightmares accumulated from her own experience as an engineer. From missing units to debugging custom code to trying to reverse engineer IP stored in crazy, inherited spreadsheets, you too have probably faced these issues in your time in the industry when not everyone is using the right software and processes.   Let us know what you think of the interview!

I'm sharing a recent long-form interview that PTC's CAD/engineering calculations general manager, Brian Thompson, had with engineering.com: https://www.engineering.com/story/video/for-power-mathematics-retire-the-spreadsheet Alongside with the video interview, there is also a written transcript. You don't have to share any of your own information to access it.   For Power Mathematics, Retire the Spreadsheet   Brian talked through a wide variety of topics, including why engineers and research scientists across many various industries choose PTC Mathcad and how those customers use it, the old and painful days of trying to perform complex calculations in spreadsheets, and some glimpses into the future of Mathcad.

We received an email inquiry which I had forwarded to a Mathcad product manager. I thought it may be useful for others, too, so instead of just emailing the response to the customer, I am posting it here as well.   ------- We need to convert .mcd to .mcdx...We have Prime 6.0.0.0 What do we need and how much does the program cost to do this conversion. ------- The .mcdx file format is Mathcad Prime. The .mcd file format is for earlier versions of the legacy software, later versions of the legacy software use the .xmcd file format.   If this customer uses Mathcad Prime 6.0 there is a converter that comes with the software they can use to convert all .xmcd and most .mcd files to .mcdx - ‘most’ .mcd as we only go back as far as something like legacy Mathcad 7, which was late 90’s I think.   From the Input/Output tab in Mathcad Prime 6.0 they can find an ‘xmcd/mcd converter’ button - clicking that will open the converter. They will need the latest version of Mathcad 15.0 (M050) for that to work, and they can download that currently from the support software download site (Prime 7.0 converter does not need Mathcad 15.0 for the converter to work). -------- Hope this helps! For additional questions, don't hesitate to open a Support ticket!  

This video gives a quick demo on how to configure Mathcad Prime with floating license server.

Calculating the trajectory of a baseball, with air resistance.

As mentioned by Brent in a previous blog post, we’re committed to maintaining PTC Mathcad 15.0 for the foreseeable future to enable users who can’t yet migrate to the latest version of Mathcad to continue using the product and receiving support for it. We had a few last minute issues

PTC Mathcad is an ideal tool for recording the design knowledge for many different engineering problems. As engineering problems get more complex, the design knowledge grows in length and so does the Mathcad worksheet. The longer the Mathcad worksheet, the more regions it contains

Full list of worksheets   WriteSTL allows Mathcad users to create 3D models mathematically using PTC Mathcad then save them as STL files, perfectly suited for incorporation to CAD assemblies.   Along with the README, the WriteSTL.zip file contains two worksheets, showing 2 different matrix styles possible to generate 3D models. WriteSTL takes an array of triangle vertices. The included PTC Mathcad worksheets demonstrate inline routines to convert each matrix type to triangle vertices arrays.   Also included is the WriteSTL Custom Function compiled and linked for the Windows 7 64-bit platform. The MS Visual Studio project with source is included for anyone needing to build for different Windows Platforms. Microsoft has a free, Express version of Microsoft Visual Studio customers are using to successfully build PTC Mathcad Custom Functions.

Got a great Mathcad story to share? Interested in showcasing your Mathcad chops? Consider this to be your official invitation to present your expertise to your peers. We have select opportunities for presenters – we’re looking for Mathcad Champions – for a variety of slots. New Mathcad

Mathcad Prime 11 world premiere sneak peek + roadmap REPLAY ON-DEMAND!

Mathcad Prime 10.0.1.0 is available for download.