*http://www.wylio.com/credits/flickr/4231631359*
Have you ever heard that song by Kanye West called “Stronger?” You may recognize these lyrics that start off the song:
“Work it, make it, do it, makes us/
Harder, better, faster, stronger…”
Maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. Maybe you know exactly what I’m referencing and you’re wondering what on earth that has to do with Mathcad Prime 2.0.
Well, the reason why I’m writing about it is because when I was brainstorming today’s blog, it got stuck in my head. I realized that this was happening because those adjectives were the best words to describe Mathcad Prime 2.0’s new performance features.
Better. Faster. Stronger.
In the last post, “Now That’s What I Call Performance! A Sneak Peek at Mathcad Prime 2.0”, I discussed some of the major improvements to Mathcad software in the Mathcad Prime 2.0 version. The blog post highlighted the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL), the 64 bit architecture, multithreading, and KNITRO solvers. All of these features are nice improvements to the new Mathcad Prime 2.0 software. In this post, I will highlight how these new features will benefit you while you’re conducting your mathematical and engineering calculations.
With the first improvement, the Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL), users will notice that when you are conducting very large calculations, or working with large matrices, it will take a lot less time to complete. This high speed is a result of the increase in communication within the software from multithreading.
Chahid Ghaddar, a Software Development Engineer and Senior Technical Consultant at PTC, testifies that “You can easily see improved performance from 10-40% depending on the size of your data.”
Mathcad Prime 2.0 is faster especially for large computations and large amounts of data. The 64 bit architecture allows you to work with larger applications and more memory so that you can run much larger problems and define much larger data structures.
On top of this, the 64 bit architecture lets you take advantage of new hardware on the market. Ultimately, this feature of Mathcad Prime 2.0 will give you access to better performance. The combination of higher speed and better handling of large data will really be evident for users who must use large matrices and data groups regularly. Leveraging 64 bit architecture, engineers can solve bigger problems and process larger data sets without running out of memory.
KNITRO Solvers will drastically improve the robustness of Mathcad Prime 2.0 and also contribute to higher computational speeds. They are multithreaded, state of the art algorithms, that allow Mathcad Prime 2.0 to solve your computations much faster. Also, KNITRO solvers have the ability to recognize the best ways to try to solve problems and can use different algorithms to optimize the speed of your every calculation. If a problem cannot be computed, KNITRO is able to indicate that it’s not a feasible problem. More computational power allows engineers to explore more in less time. Multi-threading allows better leverage of the multi-processor machines.
Overall, Mathcad Prime 2.0 will prove to have a much faster engine than any Mathcad software before. Removing limitations of data-set size and reducing computation time is important for shifting more calculation work from specialized high-end tools that, while faster, do not document processes and methods used. By allowing users to work with larger problems in Mathcad, more exploration can be done in the concept phase. More design approaches can be evaluated with higher confidence reducing errors and problems that occur later in detailed design.
I thought those opening lines of “Stronger” might be a good theme for this element of Mathcad Prime 2.0. After reading this post, what do you think? Can you think of another theme song or lyrics that might better depict Mathcad Prime 2.0’s performance?
I hope you enjoyed reading. Stay tuned to learn about Mathcad Prime 2.0’s collapsible areas feature.
Wait so no OpenCL support. Seriously.
Hello Anna,
I believe that mathcad must improve arithmetics precision offering the option to compute worksheets in variable or arbitrary precision arithmetic. When you need to construct big matrix with huge numbers [10^10 for instance, least square problems] and have to solve linear systems with those matrix, it is absolutly necessary to have more digits of precision that mathcad has [20]. Other softwares like maple o mathematica have the options to run those problem with no limits in the number of digits and then converge to a right solution with an error that you can choose…So i don’t understand how mathcad don’t have the option of variable precision arithmetics being a software much more friendly that maple or mathematica you must improve one of the important thing that diference ur software: precision…..not only stronger, faster and etc…..much times we need precision and choose the digits [20, 50, 100, 250...].
Please improve this and incorporate a variable precision arithmetic like an option on a worksheet.
Thanks, kisses!
Hi Carlos,
Mathcad does offer the option to compute using arbitrary precision integers (up to 250) using symbolic evaluation. The float keyword controls this. I can’t add an image into this comment but I added one on PlanetPTC Community here: http://communities.ptc.com/thread/36856
You can click on the image to view an example.
I hope this helps!
Thank you Anna,
It was very informative blog….I really liked it gave some good pinters.
Regards,
Abhijeet
Abhijeet,
I’m glad you are enjoying the blog. Please let me know if you have any additional questions about Mathcad or if you would like us to cover a particular topic
Thanks,
Anna
Thank you Anna for your reply, but i did knew that procedure to solve some problems like the example you show me, using symbolic expresions. The problem is when you have an own algorithm wrote in mathcad that define a function [for instance a programing algorithm where you define a function, using loops, conditional statements...etc: an algoritm to produce the matrix of a least square method of Tchevyshev polinomials 10th degree [66x66 elements matrix] with big weights] using programing statements and then apply a symbolic method to solve it using “float, 100″. I did that and i did not get an answer in 6 hours, at the end i had to interrupt calculation because i was bored. Then, i decided to write the same algorithm in maple and it took 1,5 hours with 100 digits, specifying the precision at the beggining of the worksheet in a natural way.
What i am trying to say is now that mathcad is going to generate a new version of its product mathcad prime, i think it would be very interesting that you integrate variable precision arithmetic [VPA] like a starting option in a current worksheet or when user need it depending the required precision or in the general options of this great software, and not to have to use symbolic statement to solve an algorithm, because it takes long to solve it or simply it doesn’t solve.
I think your team should try to implement the idea of a VPA like an option in the menu [the same we can choose the precision showed, mathcad could ask u for precision VPA] or wherever user need to do it in a worksheet. If you do you will take an important advantage to others softwares more tedious or complicated that exist avoiding the need to migrate to them. I do love mathcad but i do need VPA in a natural way not using an inconvenient symbolic method to solve user defined algorithms.
Thanks Anna, i do hope your team consider my words an implement it in mathcad prime 2.0.
Hello again,
I have passed your pain points and suggestions along. I recommend that you post your worksheet and problem in the Mathcad community: http://communities.ptc.com/community/mathcad to see if another user might have a solution. It shouldn’t take 6 hours to process something like this.
Me puedenj decir como se copia de Mathcad prime y pegar a microsoft word.
Pues yo no puedo realizar esa operacion
Hola Jose,
En este momento no se puede copiar directamente desde Mathcad Prime y pegar en Word. Sin embargo uno puedo usar aplicaciones como “Snipping Tool” para seleccionar una región de copia y después pegar la imagen resultante en Word. La habilidad de copiar directamente de Mathcad a Word estará disponible en Mathcad Prime 3.0.
-Anna
Gracias
Anna Giangregorio
…Or you can just print into a PDF file, then with a “vector image editor” (like Inkscape or Illustrator) crop/resize/clean your calculations and finally save as EMF format.
Remember that MS Word accept EMF as vector image, then when you publish your work in PDF, the graph and calculations will be beauty.
(Use a function for “outline” the text, to avoiding font related problem in your docs).
I use Multithread (MT) in all my calculations, and with a simple “time()” we can measure the gain of performance of our calculations. Nevertheless, I want to know how enable by a syntax or comand (like ORIGIN:=1), to avoid setting up every time that I open my sheet.
Please, It’s that possible?.
Thanks a lot!