[49] in mathematical software users group
Comments on symbMath and MathCad
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Weiguang Huang)
Mon Jul 20 23:58:21 1992
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 13:51:07 +1000
From: Weiguang Huang <huang@deakin.OZ.AU>
To: 100010.3620@compuserve.com, books@prenhall.com,
From branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca Mon Jul 20 14:18:27 1992
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 00:18:02 -0400
From: Wayne BRANAGH <branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>
I like the menus in SymbMath. I just wish there was a single central
workscreen that you could work with instead of the four that come up
when I run the program (I am thinking of the right program, right? It's
been awhile...)
Mathcad doesn't have menus like Symbmath does. It gives you a blank,
blue screen with a white line across the top. If you press a certain key
(F10?) then a full screen of help comes up. The version that I used
(3.0?) had about 4 full pages of help. There wasn't anything extensive,
it was simply a summary of what keys you used to create a matrix, or
what key is used to generate a summation symbol. That sort of thing.
I'm going to have to take another look at Symbmath, to refresh my
memory.
Cheers,
Wayne
branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
From branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca Tue Jul 21 12:36:41 1992
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 92 22:36:31 -0400
From: Wayne BRANAGH <branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca>
There are inaccuracies. After looking at Symbmath again, I saw that it
displayed 2 windows when run, and not 4 as I indicated in my last
letter. In addition, I found someone with mathcad and took another look.
It has 13 help pages explaining how to set up equations, and which keys
to use (version 2.0).
I don't follow sci.math.symbolic, so I wouldn't object if you posted my
comments as long as you don't represent me as being an extremely
knowledgable person with regards to symbolic math packages, or suggest
that I give Symbmath a ringing endorsement. It still has some rough
edges (like not clearing the screen when exiting the program) and I
would hate to see a message along the lines of:
Mathcad-user Wayne Branagh of McGill University says:
"Symbmath is the greatest package I've ever seen! As someone who been
doing symbolic math for decades, I'm aware of what's available in terms
of software. Until Symbmath came along, I just wasn't happy. When I
started using Symbmath, I was impressed. It practically writes papers on
its own. I started using it last week, and I've already generated three
papers for publication!
Way to go Symbmath!"
I would have to post a comment.
Cheers,
Wayne
branagh@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca
