From: hayesj@rintintin.Colorado.EDU (HAYES JAMES MICHAEL JR)
Subject: Re: Seeking Opinions on Mathcad
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 04:19:05 GMT

In article <BxzC5L.Bqq@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu> mfprf@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Paul R. Falzer) writes:
>I just received an offer from the company to purchase the Mathcad
>program for about $80 and would appreciate your assistance in
>deciding whether I should buy it at that price.  
>
>My needs are for an equation editor that is more powerful and
>flexible than AmiPro's and for a statistical analysis tool that
>would give me the flexibility to write linear models and analyze
>data accordingly.  My first question is, how well would Mathcad
>meet my needs relative to other programs on themarket--especially
>in comparison with other stat packages such as SPSS?

	Mathcad is a powerful electronic calculator, not being a
user of SPSS, I can only comment on what I've heard about it.
For statistical analysis SPSS is probably way ahead of Mathcad.
If you just want statistics.  Mathcad's strength is that it provides
a robust if incomplete, equation editting capability. 
Mathcad is not as intuitive as tailored apps.  You must define all variables
explicitly in Mathcad, before the equation is entered.  Mathsoft sells
'application packs' and on-line interactive references.  These newer
electronic handbooks are one of their strengths.  The older app packs
are example documents that you can edit for your needs and save under a new
name.

>Besides its working with mathematical equations and models, what
>(if any) are its other capabilities?  For instance, does it have
>an drawing, charting, or graphing capabilities?  

It graphs adequately.  Every spreadsheet program gives a better  quality
output and more control over the formatting.  If presentation quality
is not desired then it will do the job.  You'll have to work at it though.
I recently used an 'Advanced Math Pack" tmeplate for polynomial
curve fitting.  Mostly to compare the numerical results to DeltaGraph
professional, a low end piece of presentaion software with some good
features, I just didn't trust D-G's analysis tools.  Mathcad gave me a
good check on the numbers.

>How effectively
>does it perform word processing and layout functions?

Its word processing capaiblities are limited.  It creates seperate regions
for every part of the document.  Each equation, text region, text band 
and plot, is a seperate region that can be moved and sized.  You have to 
be careful thatt you don't move a variable definition below or to the 
left of an equation that uses that definition, or you will generate error
messages.  It uses TrueType, you can individually format text regions,
but I find that embedding text from WORD to give a more polished result.
It can import graphics, but they need to be converted to their format.

>Third, what else should I know about the program's overall and
>specific strengths and weaknesses?  I am wondering about the
>following items, among others: how fast is the program compared
>with other significant applications?  How well does it work with
>other programs?  How effectively does it function as an OLE
>server?  What's its memory and system resource demands? 

It does not functionas an ole server at all, only a client.
Its strengths are that it calculates the equations interactively, as opposed
to the 'dumb equations from a word processor.  As with all OLE clients
it starts to hog memory when you put a lot of embedded or linked items
into it, such as prettier equations from a word proccesor, or graphics.
As a smart electronic calculator that can format your calculations
with explainatory text and plots, it can't be beat for the price, as
an all in one solution.  But if you want power and ease of use out of the
box, get a good spreadsheet, like Excel, or an app tailored to stats.

-- 
  Mike Hayes             |"Knowledge is good."  - Faber College Motto
  WWW                    |"Knowledge and Thoroughness" -Rensselear Poly Motto
  Unemployed Tech,       |"No, thank YOU!"  -Groucho Marx, 'A Day at the Races'
  Driven to banging my head against engineering physics for 4 years.
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