Guest post by Ioana Cernat, with additional contributions from Luke Westbrook
If you’ve read or watched anything about PTC Mathcad Prime, you already know there are loads of features to help you perform, share, and secure engineering calculations. Downloading the free trial of PTC Mathcad can help you explore the software and see how it seamlessly integrates with your existing projects.
After the 30-day trial expires, your software still works, but with a more limited set of capabilities. That’s why we suggest you look at the software sooner, rather than later.
Image: Prevalence of hurricanes over time charted in PTC Mathcad with curve smoothing. Calculations are as clear as if in a textbook.
Where to start? Here’s a list of some of the most important features to explore; unavailable after the clock runs out. So, let’s get started!
To customize plots for better data representation, you can embed one or several chart components in your worksheet, and the improved charts will be saved as part of the Mathcad worksheet.
The chart component differs from basic 2D plots in the Plots tab in important ways. Chart component includes custom formatting, secondary Y-axes, and gridlines for example. You can see this functionality in the image above.
Control calculations with drop-down menus of variable definitions are quite useful when you need to rapidly change or select given values according to new measurements or checks. With their aid, all the calculations that follow in the Mathcad worksheet can be easily reevaluated by selecting the desired option from the drop-down.
Symbolics evaluate expressions and functions without the need to assign numerical values to variables.
When functions are evaluated using the symbolic evaluation operator, Mathcad substitutes the argument into the function and evaluates it symbolically.
Mathcad contains numerous keywords and modifiers. By applying them, you can control the form and content of the displayed result. You can use symbolic evaluation to evaluate expressions containing operators, including integrals, derivatives, matrix operations, most matrix functions, summations, and products.
With spellcheck, you can check the spelling of text regions in your worksheet. And with hyperlinks you can select a word or a group or words and assign a link to that selection. It could be a web page, an email address, or a file location. It’s redundant to say what level of detail and correction this can add to your documentation.
If you’re relatively new to Mathcad, you might not think to use Collapsible Area in your first 30 days. These areas can hold chunks of calculations or text or constants or function definitions or whatever, and then can be collapsed to tuck it away from view.
That’s available in PTC Mathcad Express after the trial. But what is only available with a license is the ability to protect those areas, so that what’s inside those areas cannot be edited or manipulated in any way.
Just right click within the area and select Protect Area. Moreover, you can lock the display state of that area to prevent others from viewing the contents. This is great for collaboration and sharing—keeping important calculations from being modified or seen by those who don’t need to see them.
Let’s be honest: during the first 30 days, you’re probably more focused on hammering out some calculations than you are on collaboration. And yet, we recommend you give collaboration due thought as well.
Obviously, your calculations are not always just plug-and-chug. Often, you’ve got to do some solving of some sort.
Whether you’re looking for a solution to a system of equations, maximizing/minimizing a complicated function according to a set of constraints, or solving a system of Ordinary Differential Equations, the Solve Block feature uses incredibly powerful solvers that will save you time, frustration, and errors.
For more detail, read the PTC Help Center for Mathcad.
Okay, I know that’s not very specific, but here’s what you need to know: About half of the hundreds of built-in functions in PTC Mathcad are only available with a license. So after 30 days are up, you won’t have access to the Data Analysis, Signal Processing, Statistics, or Curve Fitting functions (to name a few). Just click the links above to find out more about each of these capabilities in the PTC Help Center.
Before you throw your hands up and say, “I’m not a programmer!” just hear me out. We call it programming, but really it’s a set of logical statements that help you add a ton of flexibility and power to your calculations. These Programming operators allow you to set conditions (if/then statements) to your equations, such that a different calculation will occur depending on the given situation. They also enable you to iterate through calculations using While and For loops. And, in keeping with the modus operandi of Mathcad, it’s very intuitive to both construct and read.
The Programming functionality in PTC Mathcad is one of the most powerful capabilities to go away once the trial is over.
Now, you should know that the above capabilities are not even close to an exhaustive list of what you’ll miss from fully licensed PTC Mathcad, so be sure to at all that PTC Mathcad has to offer during your 30-day trial.
Again, the trial version of Mathcad is entirely unlocked for 30 days, giving you some time to explore the advanced options and benefits that come with engineering calculation software.
Once the Mathcad trial period ends, what you’ll see will be Mathcad Express - a Mathcad version with reduced functionality. This is a free version that allows any user to use some selected features of Mathcad Prime, for an unlimited time. It cannot be used in commercial purposes. You’ll recognize the change in an instant due to the watermark applied. It cannot be removed, and it does not impact your calculations.
But you still enjoy some of Mathcad’s notable features, such as natural math notation, automatic update of calculations, automatic unit checking and conversion, comprehensive documentation, basic numeric functions and operators, and simple 2D X-Y Plots.
Contact us about licensing if you’d like to keep using area protection, advanced plotting, solve blocks, and other advanced features.
A quick note for legacy Mathcad users – The Standalone Converter
Legacy users who are transitioning to Mathcad Prime may need to migrate data in the new Mathcad version.
You can do this with the Standalone Converter, which converts legacy Mathcad worksheets to PTC Mathcad Prime without the need to install the legacy version of the application. This capability is also available also in the Mathcad trial.
To download the trial
If you haven’t already downloaded the trial, download it here and keep the help resources and support links handy while you dig into Mathcad and discover the power in a true engineering calculation software.
Does Mathcad Express have the capabilities you need? Click here to find out.
