Numerical Math Consortium Formed to Promote Open Standard for Algorithm Development

By DE Editors

The Numerical Mathematics Consortium has announced that INRIA, the publishers of Scilab (Le Chesnay Cedex, France), Maplesoft (Waterloo, ONT), Mathsoft (Cambridge, MA), and National Instruments(NI; Austin, TX) have joined forces with other interestedindividuals from industry and academia to define a "consistent andmanageable foundation for numerical programming." The organization saysit is committed to establishing an open mathematical semantics standardfor numerical algorithm development to enable portability and reuseamong tools, platforms, and disciplines.

The current process for development involves different tools with theirown specific sets of functions and often steep learning curves. Thatmeans designers have to develop algorithms that are not easily portableacross the industry and must be rewritten with new projects and newtechnologies, which ultimately drives costs higher.

The founding companies of the Numerical Mathematics Consortium say theyestablished the organization to create a standard specification fornumeric mathematics that ensures algorithm portability and reuse acrossplatforms and applications. The organization's objective is to create aspecification that defines core mathematical function definitionsapplicable to numeric algorithms. These algorithms can then beimplemented in a wide variety of application areas such as industrialcontrol, embedded design and scientific research, as well as be easilyshared among researchers and developers in industry and academia.

Vendors and individuals interested in taking an active role in standardizing numerical mathematics should visit nmconsortium.org for more information.