{"id":6443,"date":"2011-08-17T14:18:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T06:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/?p=6443"},"modified":"2016-09-19T11:15:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T03:15:11","slug":"microsoft-mathematics-4-0-now-for-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/mathematics\/microsoft-mathematics-4-0-now-for-0-6443","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 - now for $0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/mathematics\/microsoft-math-30-review-713\">reviewed Microsoft Math 3.0<\/a> a while back. It was quite good, even though it had some bugs (and it cost just under $20).<\/p>\n<p>The new release, Microsoft Mathematics 4.0, comes for free. There are 2 flavors of MS Mathematics 4.0:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-sg\/download\/details.aspx?id=15702\">standalone<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=15702\"> version<\/a> (requires  either Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or later and .NET framework, which is also a free download).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=17786\">add-in <\/a><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=17786\"> version<\/a>, which only works with Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft OneNote 2010, and Microsoft Office Word 2007. The add-in allows you to easily insert math objects (graphs, equations, etc) into Word or OneNote. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The Add-In is invoked from the ribbon in MS Word. It's reasonably well integrated, but there are a few usability gripes, as mentioned below. <\/p>\n<p>The current version seems to do everything that Microsoft Math 3.0 did before. As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=17786\">the site<\/a> says: <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p> Microsoft Mathematics  can help you with the following tasks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compute standard mathematical functions, such as roots and logarithms<\/li>\n<li>Compute trigonometric functions, such as sine and cosine<\/li>\n<li>Find derivatives and integrals, limits, and sums and products of series<\/li>\n<li>Perform matrix operations, such as inverses, addition, and multiplication<\/li>\n<li>Perform operations on complex numbers<\/li>\n<li>Plot 2-D graphs in Cartesian and polar coordinates<\/li>\n<li>Plot 3-D graphs in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates<\/li>\n<li>Solve equations and inequalities<\/li>\n<li>Calculate statistical functions, such as mode and variance, on lists of numbers<\/li>\n<li>Factor polynomials or integers<\/li>\n<li>Simplify or expand algebraic expressions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Like all such software, you need to know what you can ask it to do, and how to ask it. It won't directly solve your word problems - you still need to use your brains for that!<\/p>\n<div class=\"imgCenter\"><!-- Blog in-text responsive --><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6416265058787437\" data-ad-slot=\"6178764223\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><\/div>\n<h2>So is MS Math 4.0 any good?<\/h2>\n<p>MS Math  does a good job of graphing 2-D and 3-D graphs.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here is a paraboloid. You can    easily draw a plane intersecting the 3-D surface (the plane is light blue on the left of the diagram below and the intersection of the plane is a parabola, in dark blue). This is quite a useful feature, but only exists in the Add-In version. <\/p>\n<div class=\"imgCenter\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-paraboloid.jpg\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - paraboloid\" width=\"431\" height=\"652\" \/> <br \/>\nA paraboloid graphed using MS Math 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How does MS Math 4 graph arccot(x)?<\/h2>\n<p>I wrote recently about the fact that different math software  disagree on the correct graph for <em>y<\/em> = arccot(<em>x<\/em>). (That is, the inverse of the reciprocal of tan(<em>x<\/em>)). Here's the article:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/mathematics\/which-is-the-correct-graph-of-arccot-x-6009\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink: Which is the correct graph of arccot &lt;em&gt;x&lt;\/em&gt;?\">Which is the correct graph of arccot <em>x<\/em>?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 interprets the graph in the following way, the same as Mathematica and Matlab, but not the same as Mathcad's version. <\/p>\n<div class=\"imgCenter\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-arccot-x.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math   4.0 - arccot x\" width=\"455\" height=\"456\" \/><br \/>\nMS Math 4's graph of y = arccot(x), showing the Trace facility<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the above graph, you can see the &quot;trace&quot; facility in use. By clicking on the Trace forward arrow on the graph in MS Math, you can move along the graph as <em>x<\/em> takes values from smaller to larger numbers. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-trace.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0  - trace\" width=\"107\" height=\"27\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Solving Equations<\/h2>\n<p>You can easily solve equations using Microsoft Math 4.0, as you could earlier in MS MAth 3.0, as the following example shows:  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-solve-equation.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - solve equation\" width=\"196\" height=\"87\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Micrsoft's choice of font in MS Math 4 results in quite unreadable text at times. Believe it or not, that's <em>x<\/em>raised to the power 3 in the above example. <\/p>\n<h2>Inverse of a Matrix <\/h2>\n<p>Inverses of matrices are possible, too.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-inverse-matrix.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - inverse matrix\" width=\"177\" height=\"183\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>One gripe<\/h2>\n<p>Next I tried out numerical integration, this time using the Word Add-In. This is what I asked Mathematics 4.0 to calculate:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-integral-question.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - integral question\" width=\"82\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What I got was the following error message: <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-radians.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - radians\" width=\"363\" height=\"222\" \/><\/p>\n<p>No argument with the requirement to change to radians, but I then needed to go back a few steps, and change the setting to radians, as follows:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-degrees.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - degrees\" width=\"428\" height=\"89\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Then I needed to enter the question again, and finally it gave me the answer: <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-integral-solution.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - integral solution\" width=\"117\" height=\"119\" \/><\/p>\n<p>How about some usability testing, Microsoft? It doesn't take much to change the warning dialog box to include an option &quot;Would you lilke to change to radians now?&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Or even better, it could just change to radians automatically, and alert the reader what happened. (This is what happens in the standalone version, as it should.) <\/p>\n<h2>Should you get both the standalone and the Add-In for Word and OneNote versions?<\/h2>\n<p>Personally, I'd stick to the stand-alone MS Mathematics 4.0 application, since you don't need Word or OneNote to use it. You can always copy-paste into Word or OneNote.<\/p>\n<p>However, the image you get after pasting from the standalone version is really poor quality and there seems to be more features in the Add-In version. <\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>This is a very good product, especially for the price (&quot;free&quot; after purchasing Windows and Word). Microsoft has finally figured out that it's good business to give away stuff. <\/p>\n<p>It's certainly worth adding MS Math 4 to your kit of math tools.<\/p>\n<p>The download links again:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-sg\/download\/details.aspx?id=15702\">Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 Standalone download<\/a>  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=17786\">Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"alt\">See the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/mathematics\/microsoft-mathematics-4-0-now-for-0-6443#comments\" id=\"comms\">16 Comments<\/a> below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/mathematics\/microsoft-mathematics-4-0-now-for-0-6443\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2011\/06\/microsoft-math-paraboloid_th.png\" alt=\"Microsoft Math 4.0 - paraboloid\" width=\"128\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgRt\" \/><\/a>MS Math 4.0 is a complimentary offering from Microsoft - and it's not bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[134,127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intmath.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}