This file contains the most up-to-date product information on this release of MathCAD, including additions and corrections to the material in the MathCAD User's Guide and printed release notes.
HOW TO CONTACT MATHSOFT INC.
If you require any assistance, please call MathSoft at (800) 628-4223 or (617) 577-1017. We would be pleased to help you from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday.
We strongly encourage you to mail in your registration card. Registered users receive the quarterly MathSoft User's Journal. Registered users will also receive information on future upgrades to MathCAD.
If you think you have found a bug, please bring it to our attention.
SEND US YOUR SUGGESTIONS
Help us plan for new features in future versions of MathCAD. We appreciate your suggestions for new features, or for changes in existing features.
MATHCAD DOCUMENTS
The MathCAD Documents folder on this disk contains many sample documents. You can load these documents into MathCAD to see some ways to use MathCAD's features.
Note: The "Curve Fit" document reads data files from the disk. If you copy this document to another disk or to a hard disk, you must revise the filename associations for the data files with the Associate Data File command.
PROGRAM NOTES
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COPROCESSOR VERSION
There are now two variant versions of MathCAD.
The disk labelled "Coprocessor Version" contains MathCAD 2.03 FP, which supports the 68881 or 68882 math coprocessor that comes with some Macintosh models, including the Mac II, Mac IIx, Mac IIcx, and Mac SE/30. (The application is still called "MathCAD", but Get Info reveals that the version number is "2.03 FP" .) If your Macintosh includes a math coprocessor, the version on this disk will use the coprocessor to perform calculations more quickly (up to two to four times faster than without a coprocessor). If your Macintosh does not have a coprocessor chip, you cannot use this version.
The other disk contains MathCAD 2.03 (the standard version). The standard version runs on all Macintosh models.
Except for the variant versions, the two disks are identical.
Differences between the two versions are as follows: The coprocessor version computes slightly different results from the standard version for some calculations. Arrays in the standard version can hold up to 6400 elements; in the coprocessor version, up to 5333 elements. The standard version shows ∞ for overflow; the coprocessor version shows "NAN(255)" .
MULTIFINDER
We recommend that you use MathCAD under MultiFinder. In addition to the usual advantages of MultiFinder, it enhances MathCAD's ability to detect and react to out-of-memory conditions.
REDISPLAYING THE SCREEN
If you suspect that the screen is not accurately reflecting the state of a document, or if equations on screen have gaps or overlap one another, use the Redraw command or press Command-R. This redisplays the whole screen.
Here are some actions that can cause the display to have gaps or unreadable parts:
1. Regions that overlap one another on the screen.
2. Error messages from an equation or plot that coincide on screen with other regions.
3. Cutting and pasting equations that overlap one another.
None of these problems can cause computational errors; they affect the display only. When the information on the screen is unclear, press Command-R to redisplay everything.
PAGE PREVIEW
MathCAD has a new feature to preview pages before printing. This feature is not documented in early versions of the User's Guide.
To use Page Preview, first choose Page Setup from the File menu. Then choose Page Preview from the File menu to see how the printed page will look.
If you use Page Setup and then save your configuration with the Save Configuration command on the File menu, then you need not use Page Setup each time before you use Page Preview. If you change your printer, use Page Setup and Save Configuration again before proceeding.
PAGE BREAKS
Page breaks are now visible on the screen. To see page breaks, first use the Page Setup command on the File menu to set the page size. Once the page size is set, page breaks appear as dotted lines on the screen. (These page breaks are called "soft page breaks," to distinguish them from hard page breaks that you can insert manually.)
To make sure page breaks appear correctly when you open each document, use the Page Setup command on the File menu, then use the Save Configuration command on the File menu. MathCAD saves the current page size. Once the page size is saved in your configuration, page breaks appear correctly as you create or open each document.
To shift equations and plots off page boundaries, use the Regions off Page Breaks command on the Document menu.
DATA FILES
MathCAD has a new feature for data files, not documented in early versions of the User's Guide.
Some applications read data files where the numbers are separated by tabs instead of spaces. Microsoft Excel is an example. If you want to save your data files (from WRITEPRN) with tabs instead of spaces separating the columns, click the indicated box on the Built-In Variables dialog box.
SEARCH AND REPLACE
After using the Find and Change commands, you may have to update the screen by using the Redraw command (Command-R). If these commands change equations in the document, you should also recalculate those equations to see the effects of the changes.
OUT-OF-MEMORY CONDITIONS
If you see an error message or dialog box indicating that you have run out of memory or are about to run out of memory, follow these steps:
1. Save the current document.
2. Quit MathCAD.
3. Start MathCAD again. Turn Auto Calc Mode off. If desired, open and edit the document that caused the error.
When you have used more than 80% of available memory, do not use help, try to print, or perform other memory-intensive activities. If you attempt to continue editing the document after seeing the out-of-memory message, you may not be able to save the document or complete your MathCAD editing session.
UNDO COMMAND
The Undo command (Command-Z) works as described in the manual for undoing cut and delete operations on whole regions. However, the Undo command does not undo all types of edits to MathCAD equations and text regions.
