Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
These notes provide the most up-to-date information regarding Mathcad 7 Professional.
Table of Contents
1. System Requirements
2. Contents of the Mathcad Installation CD
3. Installation
4. Updates to Documentation
5. Using Electronic Books in Mathcad 7
6. A Note about Components
7. Menu changes from Mathcad 6
8. Troubleshooting
9. Where to Get More Information
=====================================================================
1. System Requirements
If you are installing Mathcad from diskettes, only the installation files for Mathcad, MathConnex,
associated on-line Help and Resource Center files, the Axum 5 patch, and the Function Pack
patch updates are provided.
3. Installation
Before upgrading
If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Mathcad to Mathcad 7, make sure you still have
the earlier version of Mathcad installed on your system. The upgrade installation must locate the
earlier version before it will install Mathcad 7, and it will install Mathcad 7 over the earlier
version by default. You may choose another location during the installation. If you have Mathcad
Electronic Books or Function Packs, please see Using Electronic Books in Mathcad 7, below.
To uninstall the beta version of Mathcad 7 under Windows NT 3.51, double-click on the Uninstall
icon in the MathSoft group.
If you are installing Mathcad from diskettes, run SETUP.EXE on the first installation diskette.
The typical installation (the default) installs all of the Mathcad and MathConnex program files,
the Resource Center files, and sample EFI files. The typical installation requires approximately
55 megabytes. A minimal installation of Mathcad Professional Program Files only requires
approximately 18 megabytes.
Axum patch
During the Mathcad 7 installation, the installation program will detect whether you have Axum 5
installed on your system. If you do, a message appears asking whether you want to update your
copy of Axum 5 to the latest version (dated 5/18/97). You need to update Axum 5 to this version
in order to use the Mathcad–Axum link, which allows you to create Axum graphs in a Mathcad 7
worksheet or in a MathConnex project. See the Troubleshooting section below for more
information on the Mathcad–Axum link.
If you browse to a web page containing a Java applet while browsing the Web using the Resource
Center, Mathcad could cause an illegal application error because of a problem in the current
version of Microsoft's Java virtual machine. To prevent this, we recommend that you either
disable Java programs in your copy of Internet Explorer, or refrain from browsing the Web
through the Resource Center until this problem is corrected. See the Troubleshooting section
below for more information.
4. Updates to Documentation
The following are corrections to the printed documentation for Mathcad and MathConnex.
Consult the on-line Help in Mathcad and MathConnex as well as the Adobe Acrobat files
provided in the DOC folder on your installation CD for the most recent documentation on
Mathcad and MathConnex. See README.RTF in the DOC folder for more information on using
the Adobe Acrobat files.
·23 Web browsing in the Resource Center is supported under Windows 95 and Windows NT
4.0 but not Windows NT 3.51 (p. 39). Under Windows NT 3.51, Microsoft Internet Explorer
is launched when you attempt to access files on the Web from within the Resource Center.
·24 To toggle out of context-sensitive Help, use [Shift][F1] instead of [Esc] (p. 46)
·25 Using the [Ctrl] and [Shift] keys to copy and move math expressions by dragging
is not supported (p. 63).
·26 When you save a Mathcad 7 worksheet as a Mathcad 6 worksheet, regions or features
that won't work in Mathcad 6 are saved as bitmaps (p. 78).
·27 Borders are not supported as either a general text region property (p. 114) or equation
property (p. 129). A border may, however, be placed on a picture region (p. 591).
·28 To apply a background highlight color to either a text region (p. 115) or equation (p. 129),
click on the region, choose Properties from the Format menu, click on the Display tab, and
click on the "Highlight Region" checkbox. The description of background highlight color for
text regions should refer to text regions, not equations (p. 115).
·29 Individual equations in Mathcad worksheets can only be disabled, not locked (p. 150). To
lock one or more regions in your Mathcad worksheet, set a "lock area" as described on pp.
85–88.
·30 When you apply a keyword to the result of another, the result will temporarily disappear
while you enter the keyword in the placeholder. When you press [Enter] you will see the new
result and the previous one (p.359).
·31 Pasting Excel data from the clipboard into a placeholder in a Mathcad worksheet creates
a Mathcad matrix, not an Excel component (p. 431).
·32 Dragging and dropping data from another application into Mathcad always creates an
embedded object, provided that the originating application supports OLE. You cannot drag
and drop data into a Mathcad placeholder (p. 432).
·33 The versions of VBScript and JScript installed with the version of Microsoft Internet
Explorer (v. 3.02) provided with Mathcad should not be used to script the Scriptable Object
component (p. 447). You must download current versions of VBScript and JScript from
http://www.microsoft.com/vbscript and
http://www.microsoft.com/jscript.
·34 READ_HLS(file) creates a matrix in which the color information in file is represented by
values of hue, lightness, and saturation; READ_HSV(file) creates a matrix in which the color
information in file is represented by values of hue, saturation, and value (p. 588).
·35 The activity unit Bq is available in all systems of units (p. 638).
·36 MathConnex chooses a default icon when you display a component as an icon (p. 36). To
change the icon, click on the component, choose Object=>Convert from the Edit menu,
click the "Display as Icon" checkbox, and click "Change Icon." Select a different icon from
the available choices.
·37 When used to export data to an external file, the File Read/Write component
automatically overwrites the file whenever the component computes. To receive a warning
that the file will be overwritten, click once on the component with the right mouse button and
choose Overwrite File from the context menu so that it is no longer checked (pp. 46–47).
·38 The Scripted Object component has additional methods and properties not described on
p. 76: The IsComplex property returns "TRUE" if a DataValue has a valid imaginary part,
and "FALSE" otherwise. The errmsg function takes a string parameter as argument that is
displayed as an error message within the script and causes the script to stop execution. Go to
http://www.mathsoft.com/mcadlib/mathconnex/ on the Web for more
documentation on using the Scripted Object component.
·39 Additional built-in functions in ConnexScript include trunc (remove trailing decimals),
round (round to nearest integer), and mod (integer remainder after division) (p. 79). See the
on-line Help in MathConnex for more on ConnexScript.
Mathcad Electronic Books created for earlier versions of Mathcad operate correctly in Mathcad 7.
Note, however, the following differences:
·40 Open an Electronic Book by choosing Open from the File menu and locating the
corresponding HBK file for the Book, or choose Open Book from the Help menu. Titles for
Electronic Books you have installed in the HANDBOOK folder of your Mathcad installation
directory will appear at the bottom of the Help menu, and you can open an Electronic Book
by selecting directly from this list. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Mathcad
and installing Mathcad 7 in a new location, be sure to copy your current HANDBOOK folder to
the new location to have easy access to your Electronic Books.
·41 All Electronic Books open inside a small, custom window with an Electronic Book
toolbar like the one for the Mathcad 7 Resource Center. You may open as many Electronic
Books as you like at any time, each in its own window. The window is easily resized for
optimal viewing of the Electronic Book.
·42 The Electronic Book navigational controls differ from their earlier counterparts. You now
can access the Table of Contents (house icon), the previous or next topic in the Electronic
Book content order (blue arrows), or the previous or next topic in the actual sequence of
visited topics (yellow arrows). The navigational controls also include: a history list, a search
button, and buttons for copying, printing, and saving the Electronic Book.
·43 The "paste region" and "paste file" region actions are no longer supported. This change
affects The CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook and The CRC Handbook of
Chemistry and Physics. Note that you may now easily copy material from the Electronic
Book directly to your Mathcad worksheet by dragging and dropping.
·44 Commands for annotating the Electronic Book are available on a context menu that
appears when you click on a blank area of the Electronic Book with the right mouse button.
·45 File access functions in the Image Processing Function Pack require string variable
arguments in Mathcad 7. See the section "Arguments to file access functions" in the Mathcad
User's Guide for more information.
·46 The Mathcad–Apollonius DDE links in Parametric Sketching for Engineering Analysis
with Mathcad and Apollonius are not supported.
·47 If you own the Image Processing Function Pack, you must first patch your function DLL
files for the functions to operate correctly in Mathcad 7. Patch files and instructions are
provided in the \FPACK folder on the CD. Refer to the MathSoft Web site
(www.mathsoft.com) for the lastest information regarding other function packs.
Mathcad 7 Professional and MathConnex both use "components" to communicate and exchange
data with the applications Axum, Excel, and MATLAB, as well as external data sources.
Components are specialized OLE objects that not only link to external data sources and
applications but also allow you to compute with these sources or applications within your
Mathcad or MathConnex worksheet.
Common components in Mathcad and MathConnex
The components available in Mathcad 7 Professional (Input Table, Output Table, Axum, Excel,
MATLAB, Scriptable Object) are essentially identical to their counterparts in MathConnex,
although they display differently in the two applications:
·48 For most components a Wizard guides you through initial configuration of the input and
output variables (Mathcad) or ports (MathConnex).
·49 You double-click the component to activate it for editing.
·50 You click once on the component with the right mouse button to access a context menu.
·51 The Properties selection on the context menu allows you to edit most of the configuration
options.
·52 You must have a supported version of the corresponding application on your system:
Axum 5 (dated 5/18/97) or later, Excel for Windows 95 or later, and MATLAB Professional
4.2c (MATLAB 5 is not currently supported). If you already have Axum 5 installed on your
system, the Mathcad installation program allows you to patch your copy of Axum to work
with Mathcad 7 and MathConnex.
·53 You must have sufficient memory on your system to run both Mathcad (or MathConnex)
and the other application(s). In practice, we recommend a minimum of 32 megabytes of
RAM.
·54 Worksheets that include components can be shared with others; however, the components
will not compute unless the person receiving the worksheet has all the necessary applications
installed on his or her system.
If you're upgrading to Mathcad 7 from Mathcad 6, you'll notice that we've reorganized the menu
commands to make them more intuitive. The View, Insert, and Format menus are new, and the
Text and Graphics menus have been removed. Some other specific changes include:
·55 File/Export Worksheet has been removed; you may now save a Mathcad worksheet in
RTF format using the File/Save As command.
·56 File/Open URL has been moved to the Collaboratory dialog box. Access the
Collaboratory with File/Collaboratory and use the URL text box at the bottom of the dialog
box.
·57 File/Insert has been renamed Insert/Worksheet.
·58 The File/Get From Notes and File/Save to Notes commands have been removed. This
functionality is no longer available.
·59 File/Save Configuration and File/Execute Configuration have been removed. You can
now save preferred worksheet settings by creating a template.
·60 Edit/Redo has been added to let you reapply an edit undone by Edit/Undo.
·61 Edit/Delete replaces Edit/Clear.
·62 Edit/Regions/View Regions is now a command on the View menu.
·63 Edit/Regions/Select All, Edit/Regions/Separate, Edit/Regions/Align Regions,
Edit/Regions/Lock Regions, and Edit/Headers/Footers have been moved to the Format
menu.
·64 Edit/Insert Pagebreak and Edit/Link have been moved to the Insert menu.
·65 Edit/Include has been renamed Insert/Reference.
·66 Edit/Insert (Delete) Blank Lines has been removed. Insert or delete blank lines by
clicking in the worksheet and pressing the [Enter], [Backspace], or [Delete] key.
·67 The Text menu has been deleted and the available commands have been distributed
among other menus. Insert a text region into your worksheet as before using the double-quote
key " or choose Insert/Text Region. The Text/Create Text Paragraph command is no
longer available; only text regions can now be created. Text/Embed Math has been moved to
Insert/Math Region. Text/Change Font and Text/Change Paragraph Format have been
moved to the Format menu. Text/Check Spelling has been moved to the Edit menu.
·72 The Graphics menu has been deleted and the available commands have been distributed
among other menus. Use the Insert/Graph pick to insert available built-in two- and three-
dimensional plot operators, and use the Insert/Picture command to insert a picture operator.
Format a selected plot or picture by using the Format/Graph or Format/Picture command,
or by double-clicking on the plot or picture. For X-Y and Polar Plots, Trace and Zoom are
available as commands on Format/Graph as well as buttons on the Graphing Palette.
·73 The available Symbolics menu commands are identical to those in Mathcad PLUS 6.0
but have been renamed or reordered for clarity. The Differentiate on Variable, Integrate on
Variable, Solve for Variable, and Substitute for Variable commands have been grouped
under the Symbolics/Variable command. Symbolics/Derivation Format has been renamed
Symbolic/Evaluation Style and Symbolics/Derive in Place is now part of the Evaluation
Style dialog box.
·74 Most worksheet management commands formerly on the Window menu have been
moved to the View, Insert, and Format menus. Window/Zoom, Window/Refresh, and the
palette and toolbar hiding and viewing commands have been moved to the View menu. The
Window/Animation commands have been renamed View/Animate and View/Playback. The
Window/Change Colors command has been moved to the Format/Color command.
·75 The Books menu has been removed. You can open an Electronic Book by choosing Open
Book from the Help menu. To access the book annotation commands, open a book, and click
on the book window with the right mouse button to see a context menu containing the
annotation commands.
·76 The Help menu offers picks for Mathcad Help, the Resource Center, and Using Help.
The Desktop Reference and Tutorial Electronic Books have been integrated into the Resource
Center, the Sampler Electronic Book has been removed, and Technical Support Help has been
removed.
8. Troubleshooting
Please take the following steps to disable Java if you are running Windows 95 or NT 4.0 (NT 3.51
users are not affected):
Microsoft is currently working to correct this issue inside Internet Explorer. Once a updated
version of the Java virtual machine is available, information on how to download it will be posted
on http://www.mathsoft.com/ .
DDE interface
The Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) interface in Mathcad is no longer supported. To
communicate with other applications, Mathcad now provides components. See the chapter "Data
Management" in the Mathcad User's Guide as well as the on-line Resource Center and
\SAMPLES folder for examples.
Error "Unable to set the Value property of the Range class" when using the Excel
component
If you use the Excel component in Mathcad or MathConnex and have Excel for Windows 95
installed, you will not be able to pass more than approximately 1800 values to the Excel
component.
Unable to print
If your printer has an extremely long name, you could experience a system error when printing
from Mathcad. Try shortening the name of the printer icon in the Control Panel to prevent this
from happening.
Personal Quicksheets
If you created Personal Quicksheets using Mathcad 6, you can open them in Mathcad 7 by
choosing Open from the File menu, selecting the Mathcad 7 directory, and typing *.MCU in the
File Name. Your Personal Quicksheet will be as a file with the MCU extension.
Mathcad–Axum Link
In Mathcad 6, MathSoft introduced the Mathcad–Axum link, which allows you to create Axum
graphs directly in a Mathcad worksheet. With Mathcad 7, we've updated the technology for the
link and provided a new way to create it. To use the Mathcad–Axum link with Mathcad 7:
·81 Install Axum 5 (dated 5/18/97 or later). You can update your copy of Axum 5 to the
version dated 5/18/97 during the installation of Mathcad 7.
·82 Refer to the chapter "Data Management" in the Mathcad User's Guide for information on
the Axum component, which allows you to create a Mathcad–Axum link. Note that
information about the link in the on-line Help in Axum may be out of date.
·83 Refer to the on-line Help in Axum for information on the kind of data required for the
graphs you wish to create.
If you used the Mathcad-Axum link to create Axum graphs in a Mathcad 6 worksheet, the graphs
will convert automatically to graphs using the Axum component when the worksheet is opened in
Mathcad 7.
The Mathcad 7–Axum link does not work with Axum 4.1 or earlier.
On-line information
·94 The Resource Center inside Mathcad 7 contains a wealth of information about Mathcad
including a Tutorial, Reference Tables, QuickSheet templates with built-in formulas, and
instructional material on Mathcad features such as solving, programming, and statistics.
·95 The Mathcad Collaboratory is a free Internet forum for sharing ideas and files with other
Mathcad users, accessible from right within Mathcad. Choose Collaboratory from the
Mathcad File menu.
·96 On-line Help is available in both Mathcad and MathConnex. Context-sensitive Help
(press [F1] on any function or error message for information on it) is available in Mathcad
only.
·97 Sample MathConnex files as well as Mathcad files that use components are provided in
the \SAMPLES folder in the location where you installed Mathcad. See README.RTF in
that folder for more information on the sample files.
·98 Visit the MathSoft World Wide Web site for sample Mathcad and MathConnex
worksheets, updates, and support information. Click the mathsoft.com button in the Mathcad
Resource Center, or visit http://www.mathsoft.com/ with your favorite browser.
=====================================================================
Mathcad and Axum are registered trademarks and Electronic Book, QuickSheets, MathConnex,
and Collaboratory are trademarks of MathSoft, Inc.
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Windows NT is a
trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated which may be registered in
certain jurisdictions.
Other brand and product names referred to are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
05/27/97