Readers Pick Mathcad 13 As DE's Product of the Year

By DE Editors

Desktop Engineering readers have chosen Mathcad 13 from Mathsoft Engineering and Education, Inc.(Cambridge, MA) as the 2005 Readers' Choice Product of the Year. Theproduct announcement first appeared in the November 2005 issue of DEwhen readers picked it to be that month's Product of the Month. At thattime, Mathsoft also announced the integration of Mathcad with the National Instruments (Austin, TX) LabVIEW graphical development environment.

Mathcad 13 builds on the enhancements first offered in version 12, suchas its XML and .NET support. With Mathcad 13, engineers can documentand capture their calculations, analyses, and engineering-criticalvalues as they create them. It has a user-friendly interface thateschews cryptic interfaces deployed by spreadsheets and proprietaryprogramming languages, which saves custom application development timeand effort.

Mathcad 13 includes new program debugging capabilities, improved 2Dplot graphics, a new AutoSave feature, and new error messages pinpointmathematical errors. It also supports nonlinear units such asFahrenheit, Celsius, and decibels, and enables customers to createcustom units. A new class of "provenance" capabilities helpsorganizations determine conclusively the source of a particularcalculation.

The integration of Mathcad with LabVIEW creates an end-to-end design,measurement, analysis, and reporting environment. Engineers can useMathcad calculation software to trigger data capture and measurement inLabVIEW.  Price: $1,195 per user. For details, visit mathsoft.com.

DE's editors would like to thank all the readers who took thetime to vote and congratulate the staffs at all our monthly Readers'Choice winners.