An Introduction to Mathcad

by
Sidney Young
Department of Chemistry
University of South Alabama
Mobile AL 36688-0002

and

Theresa Julia Zielinski

Department of Chemistry
Medical Technology and Physics
Monmouth University
West Long Branch, NJ 07764

[email protected]
[email protected]
Copyright Sidney H. Young and Theresa Julia Zielinksi, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000. All rights reserved. You are
welcome to use this document in your own classes but commercial use is not allowed without the permission of
the author.

Why use MATHCAD?

MATHCAD is a software program that uses a unique method to manipulate formulas, numbers, text,
and graphs. Unlike programming languages, the equations are written as they would appear in a
mathematics reference book, against a background screen in which descriptive text may be placed
arbitrarily. The equations may be solved analytically or numerically by using functions from a pull-down
menu bar. Descriptive text may be placed anywhere inside the document. MATHCAD also produces one-,
two-, or three-dimensional plots which may be embedded anywhere in the document. There is also on
on-line reference system to assist users. Any document on the screen can be printed out in its entirety on
any windows compatible printer. The combination of equations, text, and diagrams in an open-screen
environment makes application development easy. Students in particular would benefit from the
interactive development of MATHCAD documents for studying various topics in physical chemistry.

What version of Mathcad should you use?

This depends on the type of computer you have and what you have available. This document was
written and saved as a Mathcad 6.0+ document. You can open it with any higher version of Mathcad.
Higher versions may have some differences in how higher powered features are performed. For simple
applications encountered by students version 6.0 is adequate. However, if you have a choice you
should use the highest version you have available. Macintosh computer users only have Mathcad
6.0+ available for their use.

Note to users of this document. The methods and procedures of this document may be different in you
version of Mathcad. This may be an obstacle if you let it be one. However, instances of version
incompatibility should be few. Every effort has been made to keep the exercises here in a form that
crosses most levels of Mathcad. You may need to refer to your Mathcad manual for details for
performance of certain operations on your particular version of Mathcad.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 1

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

Part I - Preliminary Exercises

1. Begin your MATHCAD session by opening the MathSoft Apps Group in Windows and double clicking on
the MATHCAD icon. You may wish to work through the Mathcad Tutorial before you start the set of
exercises in this document. Exit the tutorial session before doing this set of exercises.
2. Simple keyboard practice. Notice the structure of a Mathcad page. It is like a white piece of paper. Sample
the various pull down menus. Notice how groups of possible actions are grouped together.
Entering simple equations onto the MATHCAD page.
Enter
16-8/2=
Note how the division sign behaves. Pressing = produces the numerical result of the operation.
To produce (16-8)/2, one should either type the entry with the parentheses included, or type 16-8 and then
highlight the entire operation, and then press the division button. What ever is highlighted, i.e. in the blue box,
will appear in the numerator. Try this step now.
The hierarchy of operator evaluation follows the commonly used standards. Powers are followed by
multiplication and division, followed by addition and subtraction.
Pressing the = evaluates the mathematical sequence and returns the numerical value to the right of the equal
sign.
To take the power of a function use the carat symbol (Shift-6). Evaluate 4 squared. Practice now with other
squares. You can make your practice exercises right here in this document or print this document and create
your own collection of answers to the exercises. Save your file periodically in case of a computer glitch. You
can also annotate your document with text regions. This will give you a personalized tutorial document that
you can refer to if you forget something you learned here. You can also add sample exercises to your personal
document as the semester proceeds. This is important because you may need to refer to techniques from one
exercise to the next and you don't want to waste time recreating a technique that was already constructed in
your practice file.
Most users of Mathcad have a file of techniques that they can refer to for new work. Start you file of
techniques today.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 2

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

3. Variables
Variables are easily defined in MATHCAD. If you wish to set x to 10 type x:10.
The colon acts as the PASCAL operator := , which is what you see on the screen.
This operation assigns the values 10 to the variable x.
Now enter y:= 2*x^2 +15.
This defines y in terms of x. Next evaluate y by typing y= ; the answer 215 should appear on the screen.
Each entry that you typed should lie below the previous one to form a column of expressions.
MATHCAD evaluates expressions from top to bottom and left to right on the screen.
Sequential entries of equations and data must follow the order for MATHCAD to give the result that you
desire. Syntactically incorrect entries will result in various types of MATHCAD error messages.
If you want a function y which changes as x is changed, one must use a function definition. The
following examples are functions, and you can see that as the variable changes the value of the function
changes. Try the following functions and evaluate them at different values of x.
y(x):=6+x

(Remember that typing the colon button gives := on the screen )

z(x,y):= 3*x + 9*y -5

(What is z(1,1)?)

Note that x and y above act as dummy variables.

4. Range Variables
Some variables act as indices for identifying the elements of arrays of numbers. These are called range
variables. They have the form xi where x is the name of a variable and i is an index, also called a step variable.
Typically, i ranges from 0 up to any positive integer. For example 0 and 1 in x0 and x1 would be two values in the
range of the step variable that identifies each element in the array x. x0 and x1 are the first two elements in the x
array.
To define a range variable, one can use the colon and define each member independently. Alternatively, one
may use a step variable. The following procedure will define a range of a step variable for an array xx containing
the first ten even numbers.
Step 1 for the range
Step 2 for the array

i:= 0...9
xxi := 2(i+1)

type

type
i:0;9
xx [ i := 2 * ( i + 1 )

Notice how the colon acts as the assignment operator, and the semicolon sets the end of the range, so that i
ranges from 0 to 9. If one wanted to have a range such as 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, one would type i:=0,2;10 . Here the
initial value is 0; the 2 tells the program to change the values of i by increments of 2 by telling Mathcad the
next integer in the series ending at 10. Range values can also go in descending order by making the second
number smaller than the first as in I:=0, -2;-20. We can also use range variables for a noninteger series of
numbers.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 3

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

Type xx = to see how xx is defined at this point.

Now extend the definition by typing

xx [ 10 :=20

The left bracket [ is used as a subscript operation key for range variables.
Type xx =

see that the range variable has been extended to include the new value of xx.

Type k:1,1.1;2 What do you see? Type k=

What are the values for k? How might this be useful?
Next try
Type xx[12:=24
Type xx[11=
Not only has x12 been defined, but so has x11 (which has been set to zero.).
In this way, range variables may be defined from 0 to the highest index.
Do not confuse range variables with subscripts on variable names. Subscripts that are part of a variable
name are typed by using a period immediately to the right of the variable name.
For example, enter the following:

A.ini

the result Aini appears on the screen. This is an example of a literal subscript. These are part of the of the
variable name. On the other hand an array subscript represents a reference to an array element in a vector
or matrix. This distinction is important for work in quantum chemistry.
5. Graphics
MATHCAD has a strong graphics program, which plots range variables against each other or against
an index. Suppose we wish to graph x2 from -2 to +2 by increments of 0.04. This involves 101 points.
Set up the range variables for t going from -2 to +2 and define a range variable xsq in which each
element is equal to t2 .
Enter:

j shift: 0;100
t[j shift: - 2 + j / 25
xsq[j shift: t[j^2
note: enclose the t[j in a blue selection box before typing ^2

Now use the graphics pull-down Menu bar and choose XY plot. A square appears on the screen.
Click on the black dot at the middle of the vertical axis and enter xsq[j
Click on the dot at the middle of the horizontal axis and enter t[j
(Other dots are used for manually entering upper and lower limits for the ordinate and abscissa of the
graph). It is possible to graph two- and three-dimensional functions. Some of the sample exercises
obtained from the WWW show this feature. You will see more of these later.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 4

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

6. Multiple line graphs.

MATHCAD can also be used to prepare multiple line graphs. As an example of this you can
prepare two representations of typical potential functions.
Enter r.e : 1.0

D:100

a: 6/r.e and

r:0.5,0.53;3.0

Note what appears on your screen.

In the space on the right here type in the following

equations. Be very careful. The two equations are
the Morse potential and the Leonard Jones 6-12
potential. You can find graphs of these two
functions in many physical chemistry texts.
V.M(r):D*(1-e^-a*(r-r.e))^2
and
V.LJ(r):D*((r.e/r)^12 - 2*(r.e/r)^6) +D
This equation has two parts. Enclose the first part (between the : and the - )
in a blue box before typing the negative sign.

These equations make use of the literal subscript concepts.

Be careful how you type these onto the MATHCAD page.
This time start the graph by pressing the @ symbol below
the equations.
Enter r in the place holder on the x axis.
Enter V.M (r), V.LJ(r) into the y axis place holder. (Yes,
use a comma. It is the comma that lets you put two
functions on the same graph)
The graph will not look very informative as the upper limit
on the y axis is too large. Click on the place holder for the
upper value of the y axis. The number should become
highlighted. Press delete once. Then enter 200 as the new
upper limit into the blank place holder. The resulting
graph should look familiar.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 5

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

7. Evaluating mathematical expressions: Mathcad can be used to evaluate expressions. Here we

see a calculation of pressure as a function of volume using the van der Waals equation. Notice how
the index i is used below to compute a series of volumes. There are two types of subscripts in
Mathcad. One is a real index as shown here. It is called a vector subscript and is created by using the
[ key followed by the number or the varying index. The other is an index that is part of the name of a
variable. This is called a literal subscript and it is created by using the period '.' followed by the letter or
number that is to be part of the variable name. We saw this before in previous exercises in this
worksheet.
Here we will study the PV behavior of a gas with the van der Waals equation.

82.05

23.7

4.2
a

4
3.41. 10

First we define the parameters that we will use in

the calculation. Notice that Mathcad uses the :=
to associate a number with a variable name. The
same := is used to define functional relationships
as shown here for P(V).

Next we write the van der Waals equation. Notice how we write the equation with P as a function of V.

R. T

P( V )

Notice how the equation looks like what you

would write on a page in your notebook. This is
one of the advantages of using Mathcad.

a
V

Here we define the range for the calculation of the

volumes.

0 .. 100

Vi

35

Pi

P Vi

( 200

35 ) .

i
100

Notice how we must be sure to specify each variable and

its range of values. View the array Vi and examine its
contents. Notice how you don't need to type in all these
values if you can find a way to calculate them. Once the
Vi are defined it is an easy step to define P i.
We already saw how easy it is to prepare graphs with
Mathcad. Practice this in the space to the left. Fill in the
place holders with Pi and Vi. Be careful about which type of
subscript you use here. Remember that most of the time you
will need only to place the x and y variable names in the
place markers for them. Mathcad will generate the scale of
the graph for you. However if you want to adjust the
formatting of the graph then you can use the Graph pull down
menu or double click on the graph itself. Try this and see
what happens.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 6

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

Exercise: Prepare a graph for the variation of pressure as a function of volume with the
Redlich-Kwong equation of state for the same data range used in the van der Waals sample given
above. Practice changing the range of the calculation and the range shown in the plot for the x and
y axis. What units of volume do you have here?

Note to students: By now you have the rudimentary skills to do many homework problems in
physical chemistry. Most of these require a function and values for the variables. You can also
prepare graphs of data and annotate a worksheet like this one using Mathcad's text feature.
This means that you can write lab reports using this software.
8. Units: Units are easy to use in Mathcad. You will need to look in the Mathcad manual to see the
correct spelling of the many units you will use in physical chemistry. It is important to note that the
mole unit is not supported in Mathcad 6.0+ so all calculations should be done for one mole and then
adjusted later to account for the number of moles you need for the answer to a problem. Higher
versions of Mathcad support the mole. To see the correct spelling of the unit names you can pull down
the menu for units and select insert units (check your manual for the location of the Units menu). This
opens a window in which the current system of units is identified and a scroll of types of units
available. Find the energy entry. In the square brackets you will see that Joules are written as joule
when included as a unit in a calculation. More information about units is given in the Mathcad manual
in Chapter 8 or use the Help menu. Here we review only a few of the basics.

mass

acc

Here the mass is defined for a problem. The unit kg is

added to the definition by multiplication. The same
procedure is used for the acceleration. Then we define
the force as F. Typing F = where the ordinary equal sign
is used yields the result of the calculation including units.
Whenever units are used to define a variable then units
are produced in the answer.

25. kg
m
9.81.
2
sec

mass. acc

F = 245.25 kg m sec
time

The calculation is now extended to include momentum.

Notice the time unit.

5 . sec

momentum

F
time

momentum = 49.05 kg m sec

Units are important for checking equations to be

sure a derivation is correct. If units are
incompatible then Mathcad will give you an error
message.
wrong

mass

acc

incompatible units
Exercise: Calculate the pressure when 200 grams of CO2 are confined to a volume of 2 liters at 400 oC.
Include all required units. repeat the exercise using the van der Waals equation.
Created: Jan. 20, 1996
Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 7

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

9. Integrals: Numerical integrals are easily performed using MATHCAD. To evaluate an integral
open the calculus palette and choose the definite integral symbol. Clicking this produces an integral
sign with place holders for the upper and lower limits, the function and variable. Fill in this so that you
evaluate the integral of exp(-x2) from 0 to 2. When you enter this expression be sure to remember that
exp means e . Notice how the power in a power is handled by MATHCAD.

2
e

dx = 0.882

Exercise: Evaluate the work that an ideal gas would do if it expanded reversibly and isothermally
from 1.0 liters to 5.0 liters at 27 oC. Check your text for the requisite integral to evaluate.
More extensive exercises with integrals will wait for a future tutorial worksheet. Many of
the Mathcad documents on the Mathcad web page give examples of integrals and
differentials that you can add to your collection of examples of techniques.

10. Iterations: Sometimes we want to do a whole of set of steps in a single calculation. In this
case you must create a vector in order to get a sequential set of iteration steps. You already
examined examples of using an index in previous sections of this set of notes. Here we extend
that idea.

F0

F1

0 .. 10

Fi

Fi

Fi

Here we define the first two elements of the vector F. F is a

vector of a set of numbers such that the next number is the
sum of two previous numbers. We would like to generate the
remaining values without typing them in one by one. We can
use an index and vary the index systematically. The
subscript here is created using the [ key.
First define the range for the set of numbers you wish to
calculate. Then define the function that creates each element
in the vector. Typing F = immediately below the definition of
Fi+2 produces the desired vector. Mathcad repeats the
calculation until all i are exhausted.

Exercise: Change i to 30 and see what happens. Click on the vector

array and determine the number of entries it contains. How long did
the calculation take?

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 8

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

One thing you must always remember. Mathcad processes the

equations and data you provide in a sequential manner. Your
exercises must have equations in the right order in order to function.
By way of example move the equation here for F1+2 to a region below
the matrix array. You do this by creating a selection box around the
equation with the mouse In version Mathcad 6.0 you click near the
equation to get the red + there. then press the right mouse key and
move the mouse in such a way as to enclose the equation with the
selection box. Release the mouse key and move the mouse so that a
very large + is seen in the selection box. Now depress the left mouse
key again and while holding it in the depressed position drag the
mouse and move the equation. In higher versions a hand appears to
indicate that the move feature is active. Use the mouse button as
usual to move the equation. Try using the same technique to change
the size of one of the graphs above in this document.

11. Solving equations. In physical chemistry we are often asked to solve equations by finding
the roots that satisfy the equation. Here we see some simple examples of solving equations.
Mathcad will even let you solve differential equations but that is a story for later.
When solving an equation with Mathcad we must help the software get started. We do this by
providing an initial guess for the root in which we are interested.

f( x )

4.x

Here we have a quadratic equation. We will use the

root function of Mathcad to find the roots.

Prepare a graph of f(x) as a function of x. You might consider

using a range for x of -3 to +10. Can you detect the two roots
in this graph? Adjust the range and visually determine the roots.

Now use your guesses to find what Mathcad says

the roots are. Here to the right I have typed in 3.5
and 0.5. Replace these with your roots and try
several other initial guesses. Get Mathcad's answer
by typing ans= to the right of the root expression.
ans is the variable name that holds the values of the
roots.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 9

3.5

0.5

ans
ans

root( f( x ) , x )
root( f( x ) , x )

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

Here we rewrite the quadratic expression as a symbolic

expression. The bold = sign is created by typing ctrl=.

4. x

3 0
Now we will use symbolic menu to find the roots in a more
direct way. Place the blue cursor next to the x and highlight
the x with a blue selection box r editing lines. From the
Symbolic dropdown menu choose solve for variable. The
answer should immediately appear.

3
1

x
x. e

g( x )
x

.5

ans

root( g( x ) , x )

Consider the function to the left.

Provide an estimate for the the point at which g(x) is zero.
Use the root function as shown and then type ans=
Check that the answer actually does give a value for g(x) that is
zero or close to zero.

ans = 0.567

x
0 x. e

1
Here we try the symbolic approach. High light the x with a
blue selection box and choose solve for variable. You should
observe what is shown here to the left.

W( 1 ) =

Here is another symbolic expression. Highlight the x with a blue

selection box and choose solve for variable from the Symbolic menu.
What do you get from this. Not very useful is it. This approach to
solving equations with Mathcad is limited and when it fails you must
use alternative methods.

.5

gg( x)

ans

MATHCAD gives no solution to this problem symbolically!

Like all good scientists we must have multiple approaches for

solving problems. Here we describe an alternative to that cubic
expression to the upper right.

root( gg( x ) , x )
We define a new function and ask for the root. Don't forget to
give a new initial guess or else Mathcad will use what ever was
left over from calculations done above.

ans = 1.587

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

Vary the initial value for x to see what latitude you have in your
initial guess in this case. Try small, large, negative and decimal
values.
notes.mcd
page 10

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

12. An Equation with two variables. Using a solve block to find the values of x and y that
satisfy a set of equations in x nd y. A solve block is a group of commands and equations in
which the instructions for solving a system of equations is contained. Within the solve block
you provide the initial guess for the solution, the the word given, the constraints (equalities
and inequalities etc. the function to be operated upon, and the method of operation to be
applied to the function. The procedure is outlined here below for the system of simultaneous
equations shown below.

Provide initial guesses for x and y.

Given

The word 'Given' marks the start of a solve block.

2

xval
yval

xval
yval

10

Find( x , y )

y 1

Since there are two unknowns Mathcad requires two

symbolic equalities. These are the two simultaneous
equations we want to solve.
To the left we see the correct form of using the Find
Mathcad function. The Find function ends the solve
block.
Here are the results. To display them I typed the matrix followed
by an ordinary = sign. Try this your self for practice. the matrix
can be added to the page by cutting and pasting.

2.679
1.679

Given
2

xval
yval

10

Find( x , y )

did not find solution

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

y 5
Another example. In this case I chose a different
second equation. Here we see that you get notice,
either a message or red version of the expression, if
the software can't solve the equations. I wonder why
this happens. What do you think?

notes.mcd
page 11

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

13. Preliminary remarks on symbolic manipulation

Differentiation

x. e

Highlight the variable x with a blue selection box and choose

differentiate on variable from the Symbolic pull down menu.

2
x

This yields:

2
2
2 . x . exp x

exp x

Try this for your self in the space to the left.

Integration
x. e

2
x

This time highlight the variable and then choose integrate on variable from
the Symbolic menu.
1.

You should obtain

exp x

2
Substitution
2

x. e

2
x

Highlight this and copy.

Highlight the x variable and then choose Substitute for

variable from the Symbolic menu. You should obtain:
2

1 . exp

Try this for yourself in the space to the left.

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 12

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski

14. Some preliminary remarks on matrices. Matrices are powerful mathematical tools. One primary use is to solve a set
simultaneous equations. You may learn more about this later in your physical chemistry course.

1 2 4 1
AA

2 0 1 0

BB

1 0 1 1

4
2
1

2 1 0 2

Matrices are created using the Matrices symbol from the math
palette or by choosing Matrices from the Math menu.

Here we have matrices AA and BB. We can form the product of

these two matrices using the normal rules of matrix algebra.

1.643
xx

1
AA . BB

xx =

1.571
0.714

Notice the names of the variables and the use of

mathematical symbols to do the multiplication.

0.357

Acknowledgment: TJZ acknowledges the National Science Foundation for support of the
1997 NSF-UFE Workshop on "Numerical Methods in the Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum Using
the Mathcad Software" and the organizers (Jeff Madura, Andrzej Wierzbicki and Sidney Young,
University of South Alabama).

Created: Jan. 20, 1996

Updated: August 15, 2000

notes.mcd
page 13

Authors: Sidney H. Young

Theresa Julia Zielinski