MathCAD 13 preview

[bkal]

I have a meeting with a local MathCAD representative arranged for next week, to talk about Ver. 13. As a preparation, he has sent me some information about new features. The most interesting (and useful) is an autosave option - having Mathcad crashed on me too many times unexpectedly, this looks like a very good idea. I will also try to find out how can we efficiently carry out revision control of our electronic Mathcad calculations. Any ideas, experiences or questions to ask would be apprecaited.

(I have been using Mathcad as a design and assessment tool for last seven years and I am not as much interested in advanced maths features as I am interested in stability, QA and functionality in a busy design office).

 

[GregLocock]

I have much the same priorities as you and have stayed with 5+

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Bung]

My requirements are pretty much the same, and the only extra I would like is the ability to get a copy of the worksheet out of mathcad and into the real world EASILY in just one file (not this HTML business with one .htm file and folder full of associated guff). Maybe this XML thing will do it. But it is a desperately needed feature.

And if I'm doing something wrong with V11 and it is easier than I think to pass on all or some of a worksheet to a user who does not have mathcad, I would be happy to be put out of my misery! (apart from copy-'n-paste via the clipboard).

The mathcad reader application of the older versions was pretty good - you could read a worksheet (and change variables but not formulae if I remember right). Maybe something similar is needed again.

Bung
Life is non-linear...

 

[jghrist]

I tried using HTML to get make a copy of Mathcad worksheets for non-Mathcad users and gave up in frustration. It is far, far easier to use an Adobe Acrobat print driver (or an available free alternative like pdf995) and just print to a .pdf file.

What interests me in Version 13 is explicit calculations to show substituted values before the final calculation and equation tracing.

 

[IRstuff]

v12 and v13 all have XML output. While resulting in absurdly large files, they can be read by any XML reader with the correct translation template.

TTFN

 

[14159]

"And if I'm doing something wrong with V11 and it is easier than I think to pass on all or some of a worksheet to a user who does not have mathcad, I would be happy to be put out of my misery! (apart from copy-'n-paste via the clipboard)."

Print to pdf and e-mail that to them. Forget about the html and rtf crap. It doesn't work worth a crap in V12.1. Printing to pdf is relatively painless.

 

[bkal]

Following on 14159's email, we have problems in using Acrobat writer / distiller with mathcad so you might want to consider using pdf995 which works fine. There is a free version, too, which comes up with sponsors' pop-up window (pdf is unaffected).

 

[monkeydog]

Quote from bkal

"The most interesting (and useful) is an autosave option - having Mathcad crashed on me too many times unexpectedly, this looks like a very good idea."

I like Mathcad, but if Mathcad is piching the autosave option as an improvement due to the multiple crashes ... seems as if they don't have a handle on it yet.

 

[zdas04]

AutoSave is a crutch. I've had a rule (for nearly 30 years) that as soon as I've done as much work as I'm willing to do over, I hit the "save" button. A tiny bit of discipline obviates the need for AutoSave.

I agree with Monkeydog that if MathSoft is pitching AutoSave as a "fix" for their frequent crashes, I'll stick with V11 (after exorcising V12.1 from my machines) for a while longer.

David

 

[haynewp]

Has anyone heard if they will offer version 13 at an upgrade price for people who got suckered into buying version 12?

 

[zdas04]

I got an e-mail this morning saying that the list price will be "at least $1,200" and as a V12 user I can get it (up until September 30) for $325.

Their track record is that they'll repeat this one-time-only price about once a month until spring. If they don't then I stick with V11. I'm not going to buy V13 until at least 6 months from now when it will probably V13.2.

David

 

[IRstuff]

v13 appears to be more stable and more functional than v12.

The bottom line, though, is if there is no specific feature you need to have, then upgrading may not be necessary. Much of the newer features of v12 and v13 appear to be tied in with their "Calculations Management" paradigm; XML format, provenance, traceability and static unit checking are all tied in.

TTFN

 

[bkal]

Just to update on the outcome of the visit. They did not deny problems vith Ver.12 of Mathcad, and they gave me a brief tour of new capabilities of the Ver 13 if the program. Most of them I would call 'useful', rather than 'essential'. What looked interesting was explicit substitution of veriables in equations before calculating numerical values (helps with calc checking) and secondary axis on 2D plots. There is apparently a better debugging tool, too, with more explanatory error messages. I still need to figure out if sugin .xml format would give us any benefits. Since we can get an upgrade to Ver 13, I might give it a try (not installing over 11, which I am using at the moment, but on a completely new set up).

They have also demonstrated a program called Designate for managing Mathcad sheets. Looks useful, but probably still needs some development to become useful (and it would need to integrate into our QA structure - not sure how at the moment).

They were very helpful and offered additional help and information to enable us to use Mathcad more efficiently. It appears that they are now part of Mathsoft UK, while previous distributors were Adept Scientific.

 

[IRstuff]

XML has the potential of solving a couple of recurring problems in the last 6, or so, versions of Mathcad:

> Corrupted files. With XML, the text-based format allows you to determine where the interpreter chokes and bypass the damaged sections. It may even be possible to repair the damaged sections to some degree.

> Mathcad viewer. With XML, an XML viewer with the correct style template can display the file on any machine that supports XML.

Additionally, the XML structure allows the ability to provide provenance, which is important, sometimes.

TTFN

 

[Diquan]

MathCAD 13 is out!! -->

http://www.mathcad.com

===========================================================
Mathcad 13 Single-User


MATHCAD 13 IS NOW SHIPPING!


The new Mathcad 13 Single-User promotes innovation and productivity by capturing and re-using the knowledge found in engineering calculations.

$1,195.00
===========================================================

 

[zdas04]

Yes it is out. Yes it is shipping. But, so what? V12 was not worth having. Does anyone know if the designers did as good a job as the marketers?

David

 

[israelkk]

I purchased the commercial 12.1 version original sealed CD (no documentation) from a respective reseller for 115 US$ on E-bay and registered it. For most users I do not see any point paying 1150 US$ if in 6-12 month you can get it legally at 90% discount.

Actually I am still working with Mathcad 2000. I bought V12.1 to be able to view newer version files.

 

[IRstuff]

v13 appears to be reasonably usable, since it's mostly v12 with an additional 4 beta runs. There are, however, some functional "features" that may require v14 to sort out, specifically the static unit checking, which is roundly disliked by many.

TTFN