PTC Mathcad Reviews

This product provides me with an elegant solution to analyzing complex structural engineering problems while in the same step providing output in a professional presentation. I espsecially am fond of the ability to perform matrix mathematics, allowing me to analyze and compare multiple combinations of conditions without the tedium of trial and error.

The newer versions of this software seem to have taken a few steps backward in the manner in which they allow the user to format the final output. Page margins are no longer infinitely definable, but are not set to a select few setups. My customer expect to see their logo in the header of the final document. This was not a problem in the older version due to the flexible formatting options. The newer version, however, limits what I can, and cannot, efficiently use in the header. The net result is a bit less attractive output than what was once possible.

Depending on the detail requirements of your presentations, you may wish to wait for release of the next version. Each subsequent version gets closer to providing what the older version used to have.

After analyzing a customer's design, many times I am required to provide formal documentation of the analysis. With MathCAD, this process is almost automatic, and since nothing gets transposed, the potential for introduced errors is virtually eliminated. Customers really appreciate the professional looking presentations, hence they continue to come back when they have future projects.

Mathcad it like a smart piece of paper, where you can write out any mathematical expression and use it throughout your work. It's incredibly user friendly, for those who have a mathematic background, and formalized your work giving it a more professional and neat look.

Currently I haven't run into any major issues with Mathcad, only when I need to update to the newest version I deal with some minor changes to the program that make starting out a little more difficult. Having a cheat sheet of changes per version would be helpful.

I use Mathcad to solve Lengthy Stress analysis formulas for major Natural Gas line projects. it determines the stress inflicted on pipes when installed during construction and during its operation.

This program has been so beneficial that we've created a smart template in Mathcad where we can reuse the same file on muiltiple projects, only needing to change the variables inputted. It makes the pocess much more efficient and saves time.

I love that you can solve math problems easily using this product.

Sometimes the solve block feature doesn't work as well as you might hope. It sometimes doesn't like if one number is too close to another, and will not work properly unless the spacing is correct.

I would recommend that you either watch tutorials on how to use this product or talk with someone you know that has used it in the past. I learned how to use this product almost five years ago, and can still easily pick the software back up and use it again.

I have used this to do homework for physics and differential equations, and have used it to solve functions that have multiple variables.

It is easy to use and quick for doing calculations (especially repetitive calculations). Additionally, it allows for quick changes in said calculations if you want to adjust values or are required to do the calculation multiple times.

Special values (like pi) or specialty statement (like if statements) can be confusing to learn, but otherwise I love it.

It is great for anything from complex and competitive calculations to simple things like unit conversions.

I solve engineering problems with MathCAD. It is an extremely powerful tool. My company has developed a number of multi-use MathCAD sheets to perform a number of calculations quickly and effectively. The interface is relatively basic/stripped down and easy to use. The visuals/graph printouts are not necessarily nice to look at, but they are accurate and effective and I do not believe the goal of the product is to be extremely visually appealing, but rather to provide an accurate and effective way to perform repetitive tasks. It is very valuable when calculations or inputs within the calculation need to be adjusted.

Compared to other math/ calculation software this has the ability to input text and units much more flexibly. Other software such as Maple is much more restricted in how you can put in text, the free form of mathcad is much easier to use.

Especially like it for performing design calculations for reports.

One dislike would be the cost of the software. Another would be the lack of mac compatibility. We use a fair number of macs and its currently not possible to install mathcad on them.

Great, would recommend using it for report preparation and design calculations.

Generally this is being used for engineering calculations. Primarily civil and structural. The main benefit realized is speed and clarity of report writing. The ease of checking calculations is also great.

Intuitive interface and workflow. You use MathCAD just like you would hand-write equations.

There's a lot of cross-over functionality and multiple ways to do the same thing. This can easily get confusing and I often end up mixing different methods together before I realize it! Also, the new versions seem to have broken much of the functionality we've come to rely on. We are sticking with v14 (even though it's unsupported) until PTC fixes all the issues with the latest versions.

Look elsewhere (Mathematica, perhaps) until PTC irons out all the bugs related to the switch to the new versions.

MathCAD is great for churning out heavy calculations that are extremely tedious to do by hand. Our typical design documentation has a MathCAD worksheet as a part of it, and our customers like knowing this "paper analysis" is backing up the designs we create for them.