Mathcad Alternative

[dozer]

Is there a cheap, er I mean, inexpensive alternative to Mathcad? Pretty much the functionality of Mathcad ver. 6 is all I need. Something that will let me type in text and free format equations so I can document calculations.

I've recently started at a new company and as the new guy I'm hesitant to suggest something so pricey considering we would probably use a fraction of its capability. Oh, this package would need to be able to handle graphics, like screen shots of a FEA model that you paste in the report.

In case you're wondering, I used Mathcad for many years. I was using ver. 11 at my old job. Now I work at a place that uses Word to document their calcs. Those guys seems to be fine with it but using Word for math is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

 

[velcroman]

Israelkk,

I just called Mathsoft, and asked if older versions of the Academic Edition can be used commercially, and they said "no".

Do you have a the name of a person I could talk to who may have more information about this?

V

 

[DPAJR]

I bought Scientific Notebook a few years back. It had some major shortcomings. You could not have multiple character variables nor multiple character subscripts and you could not redefine a variable later in the calculation - big negatives as far as I am concerned. I talked to the owner of the company about this at the time. Maybe they have fixed some of that. Be sure before you buy. I took it off my computer. It is laying around the office somewhere. Exactly where I don't know and don't care.

DPAJR