Spell check

[jdesai-2]

Hello,

Is there any spell checker in MC Prime? If yes, where is it?

[LucMeekes]

There are features that are more important, lacking from Prime.

It just isn't there yet.

See also here: https://community.ptc.com/t5/PTC-Mathcad-Questions/Spelling-in-the-new-Mathcad-Prime/m-p/58719#M23285

Success!
Luc

[jdesai-2]

Nothing is more important than spell check.  You could have an analysis with all the esoteric calculations, but if you have a few typos, it really makes a bad impression.

If MC wants to expand its user base, it needs to have all the basic functions of Word and Powerpoint. Doing the calc part in MC and doing a presentation in Word or Powerpoint, and then copying and pasting, and linking files is a great hassle.

This issue should have higher priority than adding complex and esoteric math functions which are used by few people. Most users just use MC for regular Math stuff

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

"Nothing is more important than spell check"

In a calculation program?  Really?

I (and many) have been struggling along pasting excerpts from Mathcad files into Word and PowerPoint to create documents.

If you need a spell check, don't you also need tables of content, tables and figures?  How about footnotes and end notes?  Lists of references?

I'd rather have better graphing capability than a spell check, if we're voting.-*-

[jdesai-2]

I guess that is the question.

Does MC want to remain a calculation program, or does it want to be a comprhensive Technical Report generator/program?

If microsoft introduces a "calculation area" like mathcad in its office suite with a few basic functions, greek symbols, subscript superscript etc. then MC wil lose a big chunk of it's client base overnite.

[jdesai-2]

ooppps "comprehensive"

[RichardJ]

If you think a few function in Word would suffice, then I think you seriously underestimate the complexity of many calculations that people do in Mathcad.

[jdesai-2]

I am sure you and your peers are regularly solving the Navier Stokes equation with viscosity and complex Deviatoric stress tensors, but my point is that most folks do not use that level of complexity.

Most of the 100+ grunts in my office simply use MC lite, and for each MC license sold to a "Heisenberg Uncertainity Principle Guru", MC sell 10 licenses to folks like me, who need a spell check.

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

Nope!  Sorry, I'm just another grunt engineer.  Much of my Mathcad is Mc/I and P/A.

I agree that there's a whole bunch of Mathcad that I most likely will never use.  Recognise, however, that most of that could get imported from published sources (Mathcad runs "C" behind the GUI.)

So I'll continue to wish that Prime could draw gridlines in its graphs and prioritize that above a spell check.

(Kind of wish Microsoft had bought Mathcad to integrate into Word rather than PTC integrating it into CREO!)

[jdesai-2]

If Microsoft bought MC........

Ha! Ha! Fred. I was thinking about that, but I did not want to publish that because I feared it could upset our folks at PTC.

What do you mean by "most of that could be imported from published sources" ...what...that?

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

A lot of the esoteric functions you're fretting about are being imported directly either from existing Mathcad code from earlier versions or from other written and tested software (there's a lot of "open source".)

Or do you really think that PTC has programmers developing this stuff rather than programming grid lines or spell checkers?

[RichardJ]

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@jdesai-2 wrote:

If Microsoft bought MC........

Ha! Ha! Fred. I was thinking about that, but I did not want to publish that because I feared it could upset our folks at PTC.

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We don't worry about such things . I'll be even more blunt. I wish anyone other than PTC had bought Mathcad.

[RichardJ]

People regularly post questions here that involve symbolic math, matrix math, integrals, differentials, non-linear solvers, ordinary differential equations. When I say that a few functions in Word would not suffice that is not based on what I personally do in Mathcad, but on more than 15 years worth of questions and discussions on these boards.

If you have Prime, you have a license for Mathcad 15, which has a spell checker (and many other useful features that are missing from Prime). Can you not use that?

[jdesai-2]

That is an excellent suggesstion Richard, but unfortunately the translator does not work backwards. It gives me a cryptic message "Conversion failed, Unexpected error encountered during conversion" The log file is not anymore helpful.

Here is a sample out of the log file.

The following Modules were loaded by Mathcad Prime_WorksheetConverter:Module Name: WorksheetConverter.exe
File: C:\Program Files\PTC\Mathcad Prime 3.0\WorksheetConverter.exe; InternalName: WorkSheetConverter.exe; OriginalFilename: WorkSheetConverter.exe; FileVersion: 1.0.0.0; FileDescription: PTC Mathcad Prime 3.0 XMCD, MCD Converter; Product: Mathcad Prime; ProductVersion: 1.0.0.0; Debug: False; Patched: False; PreRelease: False; PrivateBuild: False; SpecialBuild: False; Language: Language Neutral;
Module Memory Size: 65536
Module Name: ntdll.dll
File: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll; InternalName: ntdll.dll; OriginalFilename: ntdll.dll.mui; FileVersion: 6.1.7600.16385 (win7_rtm.090713-1255); FileDescription: NT Layer DLL; Product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System; ProductVersion: 6.1.7600.16385; Debug: False; Patched: False; PreRelease: False; PrivateBuild: False; SpecialBuild: False; Language: English (United States);
Module Memory Size: 1744896
Module Name: MSCOREE.DLL
File: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\MSCOREE.DLL; InternalName: mscoree.dll; OriginalFilename: mscoree.dll; FileVersion: 4.0.40305.0 (Main.040305-0000); FileDescription: Microsoft .NET Runtime Execution Engine; Product: Microsoft® .NET Framework; ProductVersion: 4.0.40305.0; Debug: False; Patched: False; PreRelease: False; PrivateBuild: True; SpecialBuild: False; Language: English (United States);
Module Memory Size: 454656
Module Name: KERNEL32.dll

[LucMeekes]

The Mathcad (to Prime) worksheet converter, accessible from within Prime, works one way only: from Mathcad (15 and previous) to Prime. It is not expected to work backwards. And even in the forward direction as intended, it does have it's limitations. Depending on the level of mathcad 15 usage more or less correction/adaptation work is required on the result.

Likewise there's (unfortunately) no way to save a Prime sheet to any previous version of Prime, and (of course) Prime 1 cannot read a Prime 2 or higher sheet, etc..

For many users these are additional reasons to stick with Mathcad (15 and previous)....while it still lasts.

Luc

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

Welcome to PTC!

You can bring an old Mathcad file into Prime (version 15 can open almost anyprevious version.)  The converter will render a file that Prime will open.  It may not calculate, but you can see it.  (Version 15 can probably open and run the old file.

You cannot convert Prime to older versions.

Prime 4.0 can open  old Prime files.

Prime 4.0 cannot write older version Prime files.

Prime 3.0 cannot read Prime 3.1 or 4.0 files.

Prime 3.0 cannot write older version files.

(Do you see a trend?)

According to Richard, PTC will (may have already begun) license use of their software for an annual fee.  Don't pay, it won't work; what you created last year will not be reuseable.  (Don't forget to save as pdf or print a hard copy!)

[RichardJ]

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@Fred_Kohlhepp wrote:

According to Richard, PTC will (may have already begun) license use of their software for an annual fee.  Don't pay, it won't work; what you created last year will not be reuseable.  (Don't forget to save as pdf or print a hard copy!)

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I looked at the online store, and the only option was subscription.

[RichardJ]

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@jdesai-2 wrote:

If MC wants to expand its user base, it needs to have all the basic functions of Word and Powerpoint.

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If PTC wants to expand its MC user base it needs to implement all the features that we had in Mathcad 15, but are missing in Prime. That happens to include a spell checker.

The subscription only model needs to go too.

[PeterMoe1963]

I use Mathcad as a replacement for paper, pen and pocket calculator. Probably I use 1% of the full functionality, but a spell checker is sorely missing.

All calculations should be well documented and there the spell checker comes in. As someone else said, a few spelling mistakes make nice calculations look bad.

Mathcad would not have to reinvent the wheel, the spell checking technology is already there, in various forms. Mathcad could team up with a company like Grammarly, problem solved.

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

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@PeterMoe1963 wrote:

I use Mathcad as a replacement for paper, pen and pocket calculator. Probably I use 1% of the full functionality, but a spell checker is sorely missing.

All calculations should be well documented and there the spell checker comes in. As someone else said, a few spelling mistakes make nice calculations look bad.

Mathcad would not have to reinvent the wheel, the spell checking technology is already there, in various forms. Mathcad could team up with a company like Grammarly, problem solved.

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PTC is unlikely to invest in creating a spell checker for Mathcad.  I suggest, if you are just beginning, that you consider SMath--it's free, and open source.  There may even be a spell checker, or at least the opportunity to develop one.

[PeterMoe1963]

Just starting? Well, I use Mathcad on a low level, but I use it for years.

Thanks for pointing out the open-source alternative, although it doesn’t have a spell checker, what do I win? Seems to be able to open some Mathcad file, I’ll check it out.

By the way, that Mathcad has no plans to integrate spell checking is your private opinion/impression, I guess? Or was there some kind of announcement by PTC?

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

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@PeterMoe1963 wrote:

Just starting? Well, I use Mathcad on a low level, but I use it for years.  Sorry!  My misunderstanding!

Thanks for pointing out the open-source alternative, although it doesn’t have a spell checker, what do I win? Seems to be able to open some Mathcad file, I’ll check it out.  A brief look at the Smath web site this morning revealed a spell check "plugin" had at least been started.

By the way, that Mathcad has no plans to integrate spell checking is your private opinion/impression, I guess? Or was there some kind of announcement by PTC?  My opinion, based on the rate at which Prime has been approaching the capability of version 15

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