Mathcad Vs Wolfram Mathematica

[Cornel]

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

[Cornel]

@Werner_E , @Fred_Kohlhepp , @LucMeekes , @ValeryOchkov 

What are your opinions?

[uni]

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

[Werner_E]

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.

[Cornel]

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?

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

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.  

[Werner_E]

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@Cornel wrote:

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?

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1) Chances are that one day MC15 will have problems running on current operating system(s). Its still just a 32-bit software relying on rather old prerequisites like MSXML 4.0 SP2 Parser and SDK (this exact version of MSXML is required) and some day they will not run on current OS anymore. At the time being MC15 is not further developed, but its still maintained by PTC, which at least means that its adapted to current versions of operating systems and severe bugs may be fixed. But PTC soon will stop maintenance for MC15 - I guess as soon as they succeed in creating a converter for legacy files which does not rely on a full MC15 installation.

2) It also depends on the license you have. If you have an old permanent, lifelong version, you may be happy and can try to keep a machine running as long as the hardware is OK. But nowadays PTC is not selling but only only renting its software - typically for one year. And sooner or later the new license file you get may not support MC15 anymore. Given that you have worksheets which do not work OK in Prime or if you don't want to use Prime for the many other possible reasons, this means that at that time you are not able to access your IP anymore (if you don't want to risk using one of the "free" Russian MC15 versions 🙂)

That are the reasons why I consider MC15 being a dead end and why I think that it should not be chosen as the tool to learn and use for upcoming engineers.

[WH_4513915]

I have used Mathcad from version 4.0 to 15.0 (before prime) - I just downloaded the new version with Prime 9.0.0.0 and tried to convert some of my old files.  Considering that PTC should have the original code of the previous versions, the converted files were poor, they couldn't do the 3D graphs and many other things.  I am so far very disappointed.   I am evaluating Mathematica for what I need and don't see any problems, and the graphic output is excellent in Mathematica vs PTC Mathcad.   PTC should sell versions from 11-15 (pre-prime), I don't mind paying a reasonable price.  They shouldn't have stopped selling pre-prime 15, big mistake.   I will try the new version for the next couple weeks - however I am not encouraged.  

William

[LucMeekes]

I recommend some further reading:

https://community.ptc.com/t5/PTC-Mathcad/Need-Alternative-for-my-Students/m-p/63059
https://community.ptc.com/t5/PTC-Mathcad/Mathematica-and-Mathcad/m-p/258955
https://community.ptc.com/t5/PTC-Mathcad/Mathcad-Vs-Mathematica/m-p/413514

Success!
Luc

[SPRstructur]

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

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

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!

[uni]

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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!

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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.

 

[ValeryOchkov]

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

[ValeryOchkov]

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.