Why bother struggling..

[ptc-6160868]

I spent 15 mins trying to understand how to do symbolic differentiation using the help files and some googling. I just wanted to check a correct differentiation, having spent money on Mathcad. Now I am sure it can do it, but it was not explicitly stated how to do diff, and all I could get was a repetition of the original function, which is no help at all. I went to wolfram alpha and got the anser in less than a minute. The writing is on the wall my friends....

[ptc-6160868]

Ok it turned out to be really easy, but the point was the help was no help at all..

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

We all agree, the "HELP" needs help!

[Werner_E]

David Benton wrote:

I spent 15 mins trying to understand how to do symbolic differentiation using the help files and some googling.

Hmm, I am a bit confused!? In another thread here http://communities.ptc.com/message/245462#245462 a few months ago you wrote, that you have been using Mathcad for many years! So I guess after many years of usage you should know how to use that tool. You don't write which version of Mathcad your rant would apply to, but in the aforementioned thread (you never came back to it) you were given the advice to revert back to Mathcad 15. Don't tell us that six months later you are still using Prime - blame yourself! Prime still not can be recommended - keep your fingers off.

And by the way - the method to get differentiation (symbolic or not) isn't that much different in Prime and Mathcad, isn't it?

[ptc-6160868]

Let me help you out of your confusion. Yes I have been using Mathcad for many years , but can only recall using the symbolic tool on about 2 occasions, so forgive me if I dont keep the details of everything in my head. This is what help is supposed to be for.

Yes its my own fault for trying to use Prime. This year I needed to purchase a copy of Mathcad and you can only get 15 if you purchase prime, so I have a copy of prime 3. Having spent over a £1000 on this software I think its perfectly reasonable to expect it to work. As you have tried to state prime is not fit for purpose and the forums are the best way to let PTC know what its issues are. Given that Prime is in its third generation I am staggered that it is still so poor in many areas, but I have decided to try and persist with it as surely there must be something that is an improvement. I am warming to it slightly, which is why I had a look at symbolics. As I stated immediately after my post it turned out to be easy, but that came through accidental searching through menus and was actively hindered by the help. Having paid out a significant amount of money for this software I would like it to be documented better so that it is easier to navigate. If I can get the answers easliy from a free online site why should I bother with Mathcad? If prime 4 is not a significant improvement then , as I said, the writing is on the wall. Call it a rant if you will, but I turn to Mathcad out of some historical (and perhaps misplaced) sense of loyalty, and pointing out the problems for the user is commercially valuable information to PTC. I think perhaps it is precisely because I am familiar with the old Mathcad that I struggle to find things in the new one. Its not just the old files that need converting but the users need a conversion guide too. We cant keep using Mathcad 15 forever, although if prime 4 is not an improvement, then mathcad 15 may be all that is left as mathcad might become commercially extinct.