MATHCAD claims to be the world’s most popular engineering calculation software, and is now available in a free version.
Mathcad Express gives users the full functionality of the premium Mathcad Prime 2.0 software for a period of 30 days, after which it reverts to the lower specification free version which remains permanently available.
Although Mathcad Express lacks the more powerful features of Mathcad Prime 2.0, such as advanced numeric functions, solving capability, Excel integration, 3D plotting, programming and symbolic, it remains a powerful analysis tool that is said to be easy to learn and use.
The developer, PTC, says Mathcad Express gives users the ability to spend more time solving problems and less time programming and verifying their results.
It will create, edit, review and mark up Mathcad Prime documents, and convert and use files from older versions of Mathcad.
Equations are entered in familiar maths notation, as they would be written down, and the results calculated automatically. Recalculation is performed whenever a variable is changed.
Mathcad Express also tracks units automatically to maintain their integrity, and automatically identifies any inconsistencies.
Users can expect to see in-product messages with information on selected features, training, tips and tricks and ways to upgrade to the full commercial product. This in-product advertising and watermarking is removed when the upgrade is purchased.
Mathcad is supplied and supported in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and the Nordic countries by Adept Scientific.