SMATH 10

[onlym112]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone who is experienced in SMath could tell me if they prefer to use MS Excel or SMath for their calculations and if SMMath can perform continuous iterative solutions like you can in excel e.g. strength of bolts under eccentric loading etc.

Thank you,

 

[FEA way]

I definitely prefer SMath because of a very natural input of equations (they aren’t entered in one line with a bunch of brackets like in Excel) and support for units. It also features some programing functions like if conditions so you can even do e.g. simple FEM calculations in it.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

I love SMath for simple equations. It's really nice that it keeps track of units. And, if you lay it out nicely on paper then it gives a good printout you can use in your final calculations for plan check.

However, for iterative tasks. Things that take a little more "programming" I tend to gravitate towards either MathCAD (basically an expensive version of SMATH) or Excel.

 

[dik]

I use them both... they are very good. The only difficulty I have with SMath is integrating data input with Excel. I'm a big promoter of SMath.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[dik]

Even some pretty complicated ones... and the units capability of the program is excellent.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[JoelTXCive]

I love them both and they both have strong suits.

If you have a single calculation process then SMath is great because you can see all the formulas and steps. But, If you are dealing with tabular data, then Excel is the way to go in my book.

Smath always seems to get a little clumsy and unwieldy for me when you start trying to assemble large matrices of data.

 

[kostast88]

I usually write my prototype calcs the first time on SMath. Then copy paste the complex formulas on excel.

Easy to quickly change them to excel formula format.

Then you end up with a verified Excel spreadsheet for the projects to come.

 

[dik]

another nice thing about SMath is that you can cut and paste parts of programs together. I do that often to create programs for specific problems. I likely have a dozen or more guard design programs that accommodate different bases. I have a standard base drawing that I use for naming them.

You can also use <Windows> Snapshot to paste information into SMath.



-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[IRstuff]

I use Mathcad, so long as my M14 license is usable, but I would switch to SMath after that, specifically because of the transparent support for units. Excel, I use for tabular calculations that cry out for table formats, as well as graphing. I think neither Mathcad nor SMath produce graphs that are presentation quality, in addition to just the visual familiarity that almost everyone has with seeing Excel graphs; any graph that isn't Excel-like or Origin/matplotlib styled raises questions that detract from the flow and message of the presentation

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[IDS]

Just to provide a different perspective:

I'm not an SMath fan, although to be fair I have probably not been sufficiently familiar with it to give it a fair comparison.

The main reason I don't look more closely is that I have Excel spreadsheets that will do units and evaluate formulas entered as text, but I rarely use them for real projects, so the features that are advantageous in SMath (and MathCad) just aren't that useful to me.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[IRstuff]

but I rarely use them for real projects

Almost everything I do, or did, involves units, and they are "real" projects, as well.

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[IDS]

Almost everything I do, or did, involves units, and they are "real" projects, as well.

Of course my calculations involve units, but if you use consistent units you don't need to worry about converting them, and it avoids problems with code factors having weird (and unstated) implied units.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[IRstuff]

Of course my calculations involve units, but if you use consistent units you don't need to worry about converting them, and it avoids problems with code factors having weird (and unstated) implied units.

It's wonderful that you have that luxury; I was working on a program with a Navy specification that was supposedly compliant to SI units, but

> speed in knots
> wind speed in km/hr, except in one place where it's knots, which is at least the equivalent unit
> altitude in feet
> range in nautical miles, but range error in ft
> certain dimensions in cm (yay! actual SI unit, sort of)
> display size in inches
> a different dimension in feet


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[Sparweb]

I like to use both, and like others who've commented, prefer SMath or Mathcad when units get complicated.
For iterative solutions I have definitely used Excel and sometimes the thought process to make a program work in either Mathcad or SMath isn't necessary. But if I need it to be rigorous and check-able I'll go to Mathcad first.
I try to let the intended solution drive my choice, rather than force every problem into one software.
Note that programming in Python or C or Matlab is preferable in some cases.
There are many other math applications out there... Blockpad comes to mind... that you might want to try.

 

[wrantler]

I will be controversial and say excel is my favourite because It can data crunch way better than SMath can.

I export my analysis results into excel files and feather it into my excel sheets as needed. I caution folks who do not validate their FEA results independent from the program. I have found a few times where software incorrectly adds load cases together...so I choose to do this myself in excel as a secondary check (which is easy in excel).

 

[onlym112]

Hmmm, thanks everyone for your input!

 

[dik]

Not controversial... both have their place, and each is 'far better' at doing what they can be used for.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[NedGan76]

Excel and SMath use two completely different approaches and both are useful in different cases.

SMath (like MathCAD) use visual eidtor to enter formulas and Excel is a spreadsheet based solution. It creates relationships between cells by formulas in text format.

There is also another popular approach:

to enter formulas in coding/programming style (plain text input) and get a formatted report to Word/MathType. It also has many advantages. The most important one is the flexibility. You can easilly split both the solution and the report contents, depending on some intermediate values, like in Calcpad:

You can also use units, numerical integration etc.

 

[onlym112]

to enter formulas in coding/programming style (plain text input) and get a formatted report to Word/MathType. It also has many advantages. The most important one is the flexibility. You can easilly split both the solution and the report contents, depending on some intermediate values, like in Calcpad

Are you referring to Excel when you can input formulas in code and have it spit out in Word/MathType? Also is Calcpad a free software?

Thank you

 

[GregLocock]

It's free.... and by Canadian rules, from Bulgara.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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