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Top maths software now has unparalleled ease of use thanks to new user interface
Now shipping from Adept Scientific, a major new version of the leading symbolic
maths software, Maple V, has been developed to provide precision mathematics
to scientific, engineering and commercial users even if they have limited or no
programming knowledge.
As a symbolic maths package, Maple V is far more accurate than alternative,
numeric software, since it offers an exact mathematical solution rather than
an approximation. It is already the most widely used advanced maths software
amongst the world's academic community. The new version, Maple V Release 5, has
been developed in response to growing demand from industry, science and
commerce for absolute mathematical precision. Its new, easily mastered user
interface gives access to an extremely powerful set of mathematical tools that
enable scientists and engineers to reach exact mathematical solutions in any
application that involves detailed calculations. Never before has this
combination of mathematical power and ease of use been available in such a high
level software product. |
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The most important new feature of Maple V Release 5 is the user interface, which
has been completely reworked to suit the demands of the technical environment.
The new, Windows-like operation makes the software easy for technical
professionals to learn and use. A key feature of the new interface is the
expression editor. In the past, the only way to enter expressions and solutions
into Maple V was by using its command languages. The new version allows the user,
without any knowledge of Maple's command syntax, to build and modify all or part
of a maths expression using intuitive palettes and context-sensitive menus.
Other new Windows-type functions include undo/redo for multiple actions, and
drag and drop, using the mouse to move expressions and part expressions from one
worksheet location to another.
The creation of Web pages with mathematical content is notoriously laborious
and time-consuming. To overcome this, Maple V Release 5 now has a Export to HTML
function, which allows the virtually instant creation of Web pages from Maple V
worksheets.
MATLAB users will welcome the new support for their software. Maple V Release 5
is transparently integrated with MATLAB: it includes calls to MATLAB commands
which enable users to "mix and match" the calculation capabilities
of their different software packages to suit their requirements.
A feature unique to Waterloo Maple, symbolic spreadsheets are included for the
first time. These enable symbolic calculations to be embedded in individual
spreadsheet cells; a change to the expression in one cell is automatically
reflected in all related cells, allowing the whole spreadsheet to be updated.
This is especially useful in applications where it is important to see the
results in a tabular form in order to perform interactive "what if?"
type comparisons - in the design of multi degree of freedom systems such
as robotics, guidance systems and vibration suppression, for example.
Among the new and improved mathematical functions are tools for handling
partial differential equations. The new PDE tools give precise analytical
solutions to the differential equations rather than the numerical
approximations offered by less sophisticated maths software packages. Also
included in the new DE tools are a functions for working with Poincare sections
of dynamic systems and constructing closed form solutions.
A 3D Euclidian geometry package is included for the first time. This provides 3D
visualisation of a wide range of geometric objects, each of which supports a
number of different functions.
Maple V's C and FORTRAN code generators have been consolidated into a single
package, Codegen, which automatically generates code from solutions
produced by the symbolic solver or Maple procedures. This has always made Maple
an excellent software engineering tool for technical applications but, with
the new enhancements, productivity will be improved enormously. For example,
the previous versions of Maple only produced code stubs for incorporation into
other programs. Now it is possible to produce stand-alone executables
straight from the Maple environment. In addition, Maple's code optimizers are
now built in to the Codegen package to provide robust, optimized code, ready to
use in a fraction of the time it would take in any other development environment.
In response to user demand, Maple V now includes Pattern Matching. This allows
the user to search complex problems for subexpressions of a particular type to
help in selecting the most appropriate method of solving them.
A major new feature is the ability to provide OpenGL performance, previously
only available with Unix workstations. Maple V Release 5 is one of the few
packages that allows Unix graphical performance on a standard PC and graphics
card, running under Windows 95 or NT. Other new graphics capabilities include
"SmartPlots", which automatically generates plots and allows the
user to drag and drop expressions into 2D and 3D plot regions to create a plot.
Other plotting enhancements include more real time, interactive rotation of
3D graphics, improved plot labelling and significant performance
enhancements. Additional plot styles include extra statistics plots, box
plots, histograms, scatterplot and plotting tools for differential
equations.
Maple V Release 5 is available now for Windows platforms; UNIX, Linux and
Macintosh versions will be shipping soon. Maple V is supplied and supported in
the UK by master distributor Adept Scientific plc, one of the world's leading
suppliers of software and hardware products for technical, industrial,
scientific and mathematical applications on desktop computers.
Adept Scientific is at 6 Business Centre West, Avenue One, Letchworth, Herts
SG6 2HB; telephone (01462) 480055, fax (01462) 480213,
email
maple@adeptscience.co.uk.
(follow this link for initial product launch announcement) For further information see:
Maple V
Contacts:
Product and Technical:
Elaine Bragg
Editorial:
Sandra Leigh
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