Seriously - Mathcad (or something similiar?)

[Gripp]

I am a structural engineer. among my duties is the mass production of calculations for various items. often these are the almost the same from one job to the next (one beam is 30' long with 500plf, the next 25 with 700... same calc, just change the variables)

where i can i create a mathcad report that i simply change a few variables at the top of the program and print the calcs...

but i have found this near impossible with linux...

while i could use a spreadsheet application, that isn't 'presentable' material (i need to show the calculations themselves, the assumptions being made, etc.)

does anyone know of a program, or mixture of programs, that i can use in linux to accomplish this? i would love if it were some add on to latex that allows for the creation of fields and then the subsequent recalculation of the following formulas...

[CRISM]

I too am an engineer and like to use MathCad. I've been using linux (Ubuntu) for about 6 months, so can't claim to be anything like an expert. But so far I've been unable to find anything similar to MathCad. The closest I've come (in math functionality) is the Python software. It's a very powerful programming language with lots of modules available to download for graphing, special calculations, and all sorts of tasks. But it requires that you write a program to accomplish what you want to do. Not much like MathCad I'm afraid, and it certainly doesn't provide the documentation aspects of MathCad. I too wish I could find something like it.

[thisismalhotra]

Well I dont know what your guys needs are, but please look at octave it is a free clone/similar of matlab and shoudl work for you guys..

[Gripp]

it just doesn't seem like it should be that difficult to me. (then again i dont program!) just make some CAS integratable with a word processor (oOO or latex..) in the same way other OLE's work... but then again each object would have to recognize those previous to it, so maybe not too simple...

the best idea that i have come up so far is to just create a database with a GUI and have it generate the formatted report... something like enercalc
but that is far more painful than mathcad...

and i haven't used matlab for a few years, but last i knew it didn't work great with formating (pretty formulas and the likes)
has this changed?

[ptcbus]

There is a program called Scilab and is very similar to Matlab (I do not know about mathcad) . And you can write very very short scripts (which are quite intuitive) in Scilab to calculate stuff with different numbers for variables.

To install scilab you can either use the termninal: sudo apt-get install scilab

or else use the synaptic package manager and search for scilab.

[sam_delta]

check out http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html
windows-linux parallel programs

from link above:

matlab:

1) Matlab. [FTP] http://www.mathworks.com/products/ma...irements.shtml
2) Octave. (+ Gnuplot) http://www.octave.org/
3) Scilab. http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab/
4) R.
5) Yorick. http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/languages/yorick/doc/
6) rlab.
7) Yacas. http://www.xs4all.nl/~apinkus/
8) Euler. http://euler.sf.net/

note , i have not tryied any of them, so i cannot recommend you any of them, i just copied the informatioin from the link stated at the beggining of my post

sam

[meborc]

you guys are missing the point... scilab is good... octave is good... maxima is good...

the question was about mathcad - a GRAPHICAL mathematics program, where you actually SEE the calculations in a very nice graphical way

being an engineer myself, i have not found anything to replace mathcad... but i hated it anyway, as it was so picky about how i should insert stuff

i guess the best way is to have 2 things: scilab (matlab lookalike... make all calculations there... preserve the .sci files and change the values to get the answers) and latex editor... again preserve the file and change only the numbers/answers

i know it is stupid way of doing things, but it is the best way to do it for now

[brunovecchi]

I sympathize with the OP here... I got spoiled by MathCad (never used Matlab, I'm a molecular biologist so I wouldn't need it) and unfortunately I haven't found a replacement. The workflow with Mathcad is quite intuitive, you start writing text, then you insert a floating equation/function/graph, then you define and call variables on the fly while typing... Even if you are not writing a document this ability to mix equations and text comes quite handy in medium size projects, where comments aside formulas become really valuable . Specially if you open the file a couple of months later.

[dvase]

I haven't actually used MathCad myself, however some of the functionality you describe, the ability to do calculations and plot within descriptive text, can somewhat be fullfilled by Sage. Although more akin to Mathematica then MathCad, using the "Edit" tab within a worksheet allows the user to add descriptive text in between equations that can be LaTeX typeset.

[TokyoYank]

It's true, there are no easy math programs for Linux. For those reading who have not used MathCAD, it seems reasonable to suggest Octave / etc.. but that suggestion is misplaced, because MathCAD to Matlab is apples to oranges.

MathCAD serves and important function in math(s) education, encouraging students to focus on the equations and concepts instead of being side-tracked by C syntax. The amount of "non math / computer" that the user must utilize is similar to the MS equation editor. Results and answers are refreshed on the fly.

.. As a result, it's often very useful in fields where the same / similar lengthy calculation must be repeated 2-3 times a week (but fully scripting a computer program takes more time than it's worth), such as engineering, chemical synthesis buffer calcualtions, etc..

In response to the OP, if a GUI similar to MathCAD were to be developed (to be placed on top of Octave, perhaps), it would likely have to be spearheaded by a education-minded group. Many of the people reading this thread are actively engaged in research, and often times in that case, educating others is a distraction and black hole for free time.

How many edUbuntu readers are out there? From the edubuntu main site there does not appear to be a dedicated edubuntu forum..