Check the Migration Guide under Tutorials to learn how to get the most out of new

features and update your worksheets to the latest version.

Choose Help > Tutorials or Help > QuickSheets to open live Mathcad worksheets an
d learn the best ways to use Mathcad.
Choose Tools > Worksheet Options to apply settings for compatibility with older
versions and to change unit system defaults.
To see higher precision on any result, double-click the result to access the res
ult Format dialog. On the Number Format tab, adjust the number of decimal places
.
To display substitutions without a final numeric result, use the "explicit" symb
olic keyword.
For help on a function, click on the function name and press [F1].
To recalculate a region, click in the region and press [F9]; to recalculate the
entire worksheet, press [Ctrl] [F9].
Mathcad indexes vectors starting with 0 by default. To start indexing at 1, go t
o Tools > Worksheet Options > Built-in Variables and change ORIGIN to 1.
PTC provides 24 hours a day technical support seven days a week in nine language
s through its Web site, www.ptc.com/support/
For a list of built-in functions with descriptions, choose Insert > Function.
For a list of built-in units, with their associated quantity, choose Insert > Un
it.
To evaluate an expression numerically, use the = key. For a symbolic result, pre
ss [Ctrl] [Period] for the -> operator.
To quickly plot a function, type the function using any unassigned letter as the
independent variable. Then click the x-y plot button in the Graph toolbar and p
ress [Enter].
To use non-multiplicative units, such as degrees Celsius or dB, use the postfix
operator when defining quantities, and type the unit scaling function in the uni
ts placeholder.
To change the units in which a plot is displayed, divide the argument on the plo
t by the units in which you want it plotted.
Information about customer support, licensing, maintenance, and technical suppor
t for Mathcad can be found in the Customer Service Guide on the PTC Web site at
http://www.ptc.com/support/cs_guide/.
To change the displayed alignment of an output table, right-click on the upper-l
eft corner of the table and choose Alignment.
To import data permanently into a Mathcad worksheet, create an Input Table. Choo
se Insert > Data > Table, right-click on the upper-left corner, then choose Impo
rt.
Choose Help > Reference Tables for hundreds of standard tables for formulas and
constants.
You can access Mathcad example files and all of your installed E-books from the
Resources toolbar. To display the toolbar, click View > Toolbars > Resources.
To expand nested array notation in a matrix result, double-click on the result t
o access the Result Format dialog. On the Display Options tab, enable "Expand n
ested arrays."
To apply a calculation to each element of a vector or matrix individually, use t
he vectorize operator.
Toolbars are a handy way to insert programming and symbolic keywords, or any of
a large array of operators or Greek letters.
You can create your own functions in C or C++ and use them in Mathcad. Refer to
the Developer's Reference (Help > Developer's Reference) for information about c
reating a user-DLL.
To insert buttons, text boxes, sliders, and other controls into your Mathcad wor
ksheets, choose Insert > Control.
To enlarge the selection in an expression, press [Space].
To create a spreadsheet-like table of numbers, click in a blank part of your wor
ksheet and choose Insert > Data > Table.
Many functions and operators that accept scalar arguments also accept vector arg
uments for performing an operation on many scalars at once.

To select any region with the dashed selection rectangle, click on the region wh
ile holding down the [Ctrl] key.
To nudge many regions at once drag across them to select them, then use the arro
w keys to move them left, right, up, or down.
To move down from an exponent press [Space] or the right arrow.
For help on a particular menu item, press [Shift] [F1], then click the menu item
.
Choose Help > QuickSheets to access example worksheets demonstrating analyses an
d tasks frequently performed in Mathcad.
Try the Programming Tutorial under Features In-Depth (located in the Tutorials)
for tips on setting up and using programming keywords.
To select a string variable, click in the string and use the right arrow key to
move the vertical selection cursor just to the right of the last pair of quotes.
To display a result in binary, octal, or hexadecimal, double-click on the result
to access the Result Format dialog. On the Display Options tab, change the Radi
x setting. Use b, o, or h after the number.
When you type a word and press [Space], Mathcad starts a text region for you.
To type a Greek letter, type the Roman equivalent and then press [Ctrl] g to cha
nge it to Greek. To type the Greek letter pi, type p [Ctrl] g.
To format numeric results as fractions or mixed numbers, click Format > Result.
To format only one specific result, double-click the result.
You can communicate with other Mathcad users through Mathcad's online User Forum
s. Choose Help > User Forums.
To move out of the denominator of a fraction, press [Space].
You can insert or delete lines by right-clicking in a blank area of your workshe
et and pressing [Insert] or [Delete].
For help on an error message, press [F1] while the message is displayed.
To bring data in from a data file, use the File Read or Write component by choos
ing Insert > Component.
To undo a sequence of editing changes in a math region, press [Ctrl] z.
To shift the insertion bar from one side of a selected expression to the other,
press [Insert].
To quickly delete a region, click on it and press [Ctrl] d or choose Edit > Dele
te.
To evaluate a derivative symbolically, fill in the derivative operator and press
[Ctrl] [Period].
To assign a numeric function to a symbolic result, just type the definition symb
ol at the front of the symbolic evaluation, and make any undefined variables arg
uments to the new function.
When editing math check the status messages at the bottom left of the screen for
helpful suggestions.
To delete an operator, place the cursor between the operator and the operand. Pr
ess [Delete] to remove an operator to the right or [Bksp] to remove an operator
to the left.
You can create a new line within the same paragraph in a text region by typing [
Shift] [Enter]. To create a new line in a new paragraph, type [Enter].
You can make a text region occupy the entire width of a page. Right-click the re
gion, click Properties, and select "Occupy Page Width" on the Text tab.
To set up an equation for a symbolic solution, use [Ctrl] = to insert the bold (
Boolean) equals sign.
The Mathcad User's Guide is available in PDF form from the Resources window.
You can display any matrix as a grayscale image by typing its name and choosing
Insert > Picture. Since displayed pixel values correspond to gray levels between
0 and 255, you should scale the matrix.
Mathcad has two kinds of subscripts. To identify the element in row 3 of the vec
tor x, type x[3. For literal subscripts, use a period instead of [.
You can refer to a built-in unit or function name, even after you have redefined
the name, using the Namespace operator. Type [Ctrl] [Shift] n after the variabl
e name, then type unit for the built-in unit namespace, or mc for the built-in M
athcad function names.

Enabling lighting on a 3D plot can drastically change its color. For best result
s, set the fill color to white.
To change the units in an answer from the default, click on the answer, then cli
ck on the placeholder to the right of the answer and type the name of the new un
it.
When pasting an object into Mathcad from another application, choose Edit > Past
e Special to specify the type of object you are pasting.
Mathcad's default unit for angle measure is radians. To find the sine of 3 degre
es, type sin(3*deg)=.
To turn an answer in radians into degrees, type deg in the placeholder to the ri
ght of the answer.
To apply a function or operation to a vector or matrix of values element-wise, u
se [Ctrl] [-]. This puts the vectorize arrow over the expression.
To completely hide one or more regions in your worksheet, use a collapsed area.
Then set the area properties so that there is no name, icon, border, or timestam
p on the area.
Scalar and vector answers can be copied and pasted just like any other expressio
n. Just select the result and choose Edit > Copy.
To find the abbreviation for a unit, choose Insert > Unit and look in the Insert
Unit dialog.
You can pull in functions and variables defined in other worksheets. Choose Inse
rt > Reference and specify a worksheet. The contents of that worksheet are used
where you inserted the reference.
When you animate a 2D plot, first fix the axis limits by entering your own value
s in the four axes-limit placeholders. This prevents the plot from rescaling the
axes during the animation.
Variables definitions inside a Mathcad program are known only inside the program
. However, a program uses the values of any variables defined above or to the le
ft of the program in your worksheet.
You can find and/or replace typographical characters using the Find and Replace
dialogs. Enter ^t for a tab, ^p for a Return, ^l for a line break, and ^\ for a
backslash.
Greek and other extended characters supported by a Unicode font are allowed in t
he Find and Replace dialogs. You can enter these characters with either the appr
opriate keyboard, or by pasting them from another application. Also, you can ent
er Greek characters by typing the Roman equivalent, followed by [Ctrl] g.
If you want to keep a region from calculating, right-click in the region and cho
ose Disable Evaluation. A small box appears to the right of the equation to indi
cate that it is disabled.
There are three different "equals" signs in Mathcad. Press = to get a numerical
answer. Press : to define a variable. To state that two quantities are equal, us
e [Ctrl] = to insert a Boolean equals sign for equations you want to solve.
To integrate the data set sampled at irregularly spaced points, use interpolatio
n. Define f(t) := linterp(x,y,t) and then use the numerical integration operator
to integrate f.
To deselect one of a group of selected regions, press [Ctrl] and click on the re
gion to deselect.
To print out these tips, locate the file mtips_EN.txt in your Mathcad folder and
open it in a text editor. Be careful to not alter the contents of the file.
To create a 3D QuickPlot, enter a 2-variable function, then type the name of tha
t function without its variables as the argument in a 3D plot.
You can select multiple regions and change properties common to all of the regio
ns selected, rather than changing each region separately.
If you want to restrict user access to a small number of regions in your workshe
et, you can opt to protect your worksheet, rather than inserting areas and locki
ng them. Choose Tools > Protect Worksheet.
To read data from files interactively, choose Insert > Data > File Input. You ca
n then select a subset of rows and columns that can be recalculated by clicking
on it and pressing [F9].
You can define a variable by the result of a numerical evaluation in a single li

ne. This allows you to capture the output of a function that is defined numerica
lly and then evaluate it symbolically.
To change the properties of a File Input component, such as the file to read, ri
ght-click on the component.
To select a single region, hold down the [Shift] key and click on it. Repeating
this action undoes the selection.
You can type the name and path of any JPEG, BMP, GIF, or TIFF image into a strin
g variable in the placeholder of a picture operator to display the image. Both g
rayscale and color images are supported.
You can output a matrix of pixel values selected in a picture operator. Right-cl
ick on the picture and set the desired limits on the Properties tab.
To animate any equation or graph in Mathcad, make the values dependent on the bu
ilt-in FRAME variable (default is 0), then choose Tools > Animation > Record, an
d select the regions you wish to animate.
The default units returned for any value are dependent on the unit system chosen
. To change unit systems, choose Tools > Worksheet Options and select from the c
hoices on the Unit System tab.
Assigning the largest index element of a matrix first will speed matrix calculat
ions
If you are manipulating many large matrices in a calculation, but only need to u
se the values of the last one, assign the intermediate matrices in a program. Th
ese will not be saved in memory after the program is run.
Solve block results can be parameterized on any value, including guess values, e
quation variables, conditional constraints, or initial conditions. A parameteriz
ed output can be used within a program to run the solve block repeatedly.
You can use the WRITEPRN and APPENDPRN functions in a program by passing them bo
th the name of the file to write to and the data values to be written as a secon
d argument.
You can apply a vectorized function or operator to a vector and evaluate the res
ult numerically or symbolically. To apply the vectorize operator, type the funct
ion, then type [Ctrl][-]to insert the vectorize operator, which is displayed as
an arrow above the function.
To reduce the size of your files, you can store images as lower quality JPEGs. T
o do so, open the XML options in the Properties dialog under the File menu.