Developer(s) Mathcad Prime 1.0 Mathsoft, PTC 1986 15.0 M045 / November 2015[1] Prime 4.0 / March 6, 2017; 16 months ago[2] Microsoft Windows 10 languages[3] Computer algebra system Proprietary www.ptc.com/products/mathcad/

Mathcad is computer software primarily intended for the verification, validation, documentation and re-use of engineering calculations.[4] First introduced in 1986 on DOS, it was the first to introduce live editing of typeset mathematical notation, combined with its automatic computations.

## Overview

Mathcad, Parametric Technology Corporation's engineering calculation solution, is used by engineers and scientists in various disciplines – most often those of mechanical, chemical, electrical, and civil engineering. Originally conceived and written by Allen Razdow (of MIT, co-founder of Mathsoft), Mathcad is now owned by PTC and is generally accepted as the first computer application to automatically compute and check consistency of engineering units such as the International System of Units (SI), throughout the entire set of calculations. Mathcad today includes some of the capabilities of a computer algebra system, but remains oriented towards ease of use and simultaneous documentation of numerical engineering applications.

Mathcad is oriented around a worksheet, in which equations and expressions are created and manipulated in the same graphical format in which they are presented (WYSIWYG) - as opposed to authoring in plain text, an approach later adopted by other systems such as Mathematica and Maple.

Mathcad is part of a broader product development system developed by PTC, and often utilized for the many analytical touch points within the systems engineering processes. It integrates with PTC’s other solutions that aid product development, including Creo Elements/Pro, Windchill, and Creo Elements/View. Its live feature-level integration with Creo Elements/Pro enables Mathcad analytical models to be directly used in driving CAD geometry, and its structural awareness within Windchill allows live calculations to be re-used and re-applied toward multiple design models.

## Summary of capabilities

The Mathcad interface allows users to combine a variety of different elements (mathematics, descriptive text, and supporting imagery) into the form of a worksheet, which is naturally readable. Because the mathematics are core to the program, the math is inherently live, dynamically recalculating as upstream values are altered. This allows for simple manipulation of input variables, assumptions, and expressions, which in turn update in real-time. The examples below serve to outline the scope of Mathcad’s capabilities, rather than to give specific details on the individual product functionality.

Although Mathcad is mostly oriented to non-programming users, it is also used in more complex projects to visualize results of mathematical modeling by using distributed computing and coupling with programs written using more traditional languages such as C++.

## Computational Errors

MathCAD 11.0, 12.0, 13.0, and 14.0 had faulty implementations of the rref algorithm that frequently miscalculated the reduced row echelon form of complex matrices.[6] MathCAD 13.0 and 14.0 (and probably the earlier versions) had an error with symbolic vector cross product.[7] Specifically, in a MathCAD document, the expression

${\displaystyle (a+b)\times c}$

would be incorrectly "simplified" to the expression

${\displaystyle a+b\times c}$.

That is, to the user, the parentheses merely "disappeared". If the vectors ${\displaystyle a,b,c}$ were not previously provided values in the form of three-tuples of numbers, then this amounted to a vector algebra error, failing to properly apply distributivity of vector cross product over vector addition. On the other hand, if the vectors had been assigned values, then both of the above expressions would reduce to the same value, as long as the second expression had been copied and pasted from the "simplified" result of the former expression, but if the user typed in the second expression, then its value as a specific three-tuple would be computed correctly.[7] MathCAD 15.0 erroneously computes some integrals.[7] See the image at right for an example.

## Current releases

As of March 2017, there are two actively maintained Mathcad releases and a free express version available to consumers:

• Mathcad 15.0 was originally released in June, 2010. Its first maintenance release was released in November, 2010. Mathcad 15.0 is the next progressive release of the traditional product line, sharing the same worksheet file structure and extension as its predecessor, Mathcad 14.0.
• Mathcad Prime 4.0, PTC’s latest generation product, was introduced in March 2017. This is PTC's latest release, after 2 years.
• PTC Mathcad Express Free-for-Life Engineering Calculations Software - a Mathcad Prime 30-day trial, but when the 30-day trial period has ended, it is possible to continue using PTC Mathcad Express for an unlimited time. This Freemium pilot marks a new marketing approach for PTC. Review and markup of engineering notes can now be done directly by team members without them all requiring a full Mathcad Prime license.[8]

## Computer operating system platforms

Mathcad is currently a Windows-only application. Current releases of Mathcad 15.0 and Mathcad Prime 4.0 are supported on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Currently releases are 32-bit applications only, however. While users do utilize emulation to establish other platform operability, Mathcad’s last officially supported, natively installed Mac OS release was on January 8, 1998.[9] This version can still be run on Macintosh computers that support the Mac OS X Classic Environment or SheepShaver.

## Support

The Mathcad Business Unit within PTC recently updated their support policy. For Mathcad 15.0 and future versions of Mathcad, the first year of maintenance entitlements and support will be included in the purchase or upgrade price.

As of September 2014, due to the rapidly changing technology landscape and Microsoft's retiring of the Windows XP operating system, PTC will discontinue PTC Mathcad support of the Windows Vista and XP operating systems with the release of PTC Mathcad Prime 3.1 and PTC Mathcad 15.0 M040.[12]

## Release history

Name Version Release Date Notes
Mathcad 0.3 0.3 beta on 5 1/4 floppy
Mathcad 2.5.2 2.5.2 last DOS version
Mathcad 13.0[20] 13.0 September 15, 2005[21]
Mathcad 14.0[20] 14.0 February 12, 2007[21]
Mathcad 15.0[22] 15.0 F000 June 25, 2010[21]
Mathcad 15.0 M010[22] 15.0 M010 June 29, 2011[21]
Mathcad 15.0 M045[23] 15.0 M045 November 2015[23]
Mathcad Prime 1.0[24] January 10, 2011[21]
Mathcad Prime 2.0 February 29, 2012[21]
Mathcad Prime 3.0 October 2, 2013[21]
Mathcad Prime 3.1 March 2, 2015[21]
Mathcad Prime 4.0 March 6, 2017[21]

## References

1. ^ "READ THIS FIRST PTC® Mathcad® 15.0 M045" (PDF). November 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-10.
2. ^ "PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 Is Here!". 2017-03-06. Archived from the original on 2017-03-07.
3. ^ "Mathcad Language Support - PTC.com". Archived from the original on 2010-09-10.
4. ^ "PTC Mathcad - PTC". Archived from the original on 2009-10-11.
5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-16. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
6. ^ "rref and complex arithmetic". 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
7. Personal Experience
8. ^ ENGINEERING.com. "Psst... PTC is Giving Away Mathcad Express. Pass it on. > ENGINEERING.com". Archived from the original on 2013-10-12.
9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
10. ^ "PTC to Acquire Mathsoft Engineering & Education (April 26, 2006 slide show)," (PDF). corporate-ir.net. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
11. ^ "Global Maintenance Support - Packages - PTC.com". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13.
12. ^ "PTC Mathcad Support Announcement". http://blogs.ptc.com/2014/09/25/ptc-mathcad-operating-systems-support-announcement/. External link in |website= (help);
13. ^ "Mathcad Features Comparison Chart". Archived from the original on 1996-11-10. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
14. ^ "Mathcad PLUS 6.0 and Mathcad 7 Professional Comparison". Archived from the original on 1998-02-20. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
15. ^ "Mathcad Features: Version by Version Comparison". Archived from the original on 2000-09-29. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
16. ^ "Mathcad Version Comparison Chart". Archived from the original on 1999-11-28. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
17. ^ "What's New in Mathcad 2001i". Archived from the original on 2001-02-15. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
18. ^ "What's New in Mathcad 11". Archived from the original on 2002-11-11. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
19. ^ "Untitled" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-16. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
20. ^ a b c "Release Notes for Mathcad 14". Archived from the original on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
21. "When to release Mathcad 15 M040?". Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
22. ^ a b "Latest Release of MC15 (M0??)". Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
23. ^ a b "Mathcad 15 M045 release notes ("Read This First" guide)". Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2016-06-12.
24. ^ "Choose the Mathcad® product that's right for you" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2016-06-12.