| |
Mathcad |
Matlab®
7 |
Excel®
2003 |
Maple®
10 |
|
Ease of Use |
|
User Interface |
Whiteboard
Interface |
Command
prompt - proprietary scripting language |
Cell based |
Partial
whiteboard interface, mostly menu driven and
still some command line driven |
|
Documentation |
Self-documenting - can save to Word, .html,
.pdf |
Can publish
to .html and Word |
Lacks
simultaneous visibility of equations |
Self-documenting - can save to Word, .html,
.pdf |
|
"Readability" |
Easy to
understand - calculations appear as would in
text book |
Must know
the language - M-files |
Equations
hidden-hard to read with linked cells and
macros |
Moderately
intuitive, lots of menu and command line
functions still need to be understood |
|
Learning Curve |
Small |
Large |
Small for
very basic use - Large for complex
calculations |
Medium |
|
Verification & Validation |
|
Unit Management |
Automatically checks units - unit aware -
flags errors during entry |
No unit
support |
No unit
support |
yes, but
not extensive |
|
Easy of
sharing/reuse |
Extremely
easy to reuse and share work |
Users must
know Matlab language and have Matlab |
Difficult
to share and understand work done by others |
Not easily,
add-ons and toolboxes make it difficult to
share |
|
Math Functions / Programming |
|
Symbolic Math |
Yes |
Add-on
required |
No |
Yes |
|
Calculation |
Integrated
symbolic & numeric math and free floating
text |
Non-symbolic math notation |
Limited
math functions with potential for rounding
errors |
Integrated
symbolic & numeric math & free floating text |
|
Solving
Capabilities |
Yes |
Yes |
Rudimentary |
limited
thru solver add-on |
|
Programming |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Graphing |
Yes |
Yes, but
separate window for graphs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Interoperability |
|
Excel
Integration |
Yes |
Yes with
add-ons |
N/A |
Yes |
|
Matlab
Integration |
Yes |
N/A |
Limited |
Yes, with
add-on Toolbox |
|
Native XML
Format |
Yes, open
XML format |
No Add-on
required native xml format |
No,
import/export XML |
No XML
ability |
|
Web Based
Calculation Management |
Yes,
Mathcad Calculation Server |
No |
No |
Yes,
MapleNet Server |
|
Summary |
| |
Mathcad
offers a whiteboard interface with Natural
Math Notation. Easy to understand,
share, debug. It is also a
documentation environment. Mathcad is
the only product with Unit support & Unit
Awareness. Its purpose was built for
engineering calculations. Includes
over 300 functions. Libraries of
precreated formulas available - ie Roark's.
Mathcad captures the knowledge that goes
into the calculations and not just the
results. |
High-level
language focused on matrices. Difficult
command line interface. Strength is in
scripting and matrices. Not easy to share or
document your work. No unit support - users
must manage units (conversions, etc.) |
Cell based
product designed for data management
(storage & manipulation) and primarily for
financial industry. No unit support,
difficult to understand. Studies show
alarming error rates in medium to larger
spreadsheets. |
Do not yet
have a 100% whiteboard interface. Math
capability has been segmented into toolboxes
and Add-ons, making sharing Maple worksheets
problematic. Menu system is cumbersome
& difficult to learn. |
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Visualization Comparison |
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Click to
enlarge
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Calculation Comparison |
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enlarge
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Common
Pain Points
