Free MathCAD alternative for Linux

Examples

The package comes with a variety of examples of modifiable calculations. One of the examples is a beam support reaction (Figure 12), which displays a diagram of a beam that automatically adjusts with given variables. I was able to make use of this example to help clarify some questions in one of my civil engineering classes.

Figure 12: Example beam calculation.

Summary

Spreadsheet packages such as Excel are great tools, but they are weak at clearly presenting complex equations. SMath, on the other hand, presents equations in their conventional forms and has worksheets with customizable layouts.

As a university student, I spend a lot of time formatting lab reports. In the past, I used static tools such as LaTex [3] or the Microsoft Word Equation Editor to build sample calculations. Now I find that the dynamic presentation of complex calculations in SMath can be a huge time saver.

The Author

Brooke Metcalfe is in her third year of Environmental Engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

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