READ THIS FIRST

PTC® Mathcad® Prime® 4.0

Important Installation and Usage Information
Directory of Online and DVD-ROM Information

Platform Support http://support.ptc.com/partners/hardware/current/support.htm

Technical Support https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/portal/
Knowledge Base http://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/search/search.jsp
Reference Documents http://www.ptc.com/appserver/cs/doc/refdoc.jsp

PTC Introduces
PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0
Design the next generation of products with PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0. Show, solve, and
secure your engineering calculations more effectively than ever. Take advantage of new
capabilities in the areas of content protection, interoperability with third party
applications, and usability enhancements. See PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 What’s New for
more information.
Using PTC Mathcad Express Prime 4.0
PTC Mathcad Express Prime 4.0 is a free version of the product with selected features.
After the installation of Mathcad Express, you can explore the full capabilities of the
commercial product for 30 days. After that period, you can use only the selected features
indefinitely.
In Mathcad Express, a watermark is displayed in the footer of your worksheets. In
addition, a message window on the right includes information on selected features,
training, tips and tricks, as well as easy ways to purchase the commercial product. When
you upgrade to the commercial product, the watermark disappears and you can choose to
close the message window.
Migrating from Earlier Releases of Mathcad
For users of PTC Mathcad 15.0 and earlier, see the PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 Migration
Guide. Mathcad Prime 4.0 has significant differences from Mathcad 15.0 and does not
support all its capabilities. The Migration Guide provides information and procedures for
converting your worksheets to Mathcad Prime 4.0. You can use the converter for files
from Mathcad 7.0 through 15.0.

Installation
For the most up-to-date installation information, see the PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0
Installation and Administration Guide. In the PTC Installation Assistant, click Help or
browse for the guide on the Reference Documents page.

Copyright © 2017 PTC Inc.

January 2017 Read This First
English PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0
 You can install Mathcad Prime 4.0 side-by-side with any previous version. For installing
Mathcad Prime 4.0 side-by-side with an earlier release of Mathcad Prime, the following
limitations apply:
 Mathcad Prime 4.0 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You cannot install both
versions on the same computer. Install the version that matches your computer for
maximum performance. Within PTC Installation Assistant, click Customize. If you
try to install both versions, the installer displays a message saying that Mathcad
Prime is already installed and then copies over files from the previous installation.
 You must install the products in an ascending order (Mathcad Prime 1.0 and then
Mathcad Prime 4.0, for example) to maintain the worksheet file associativity with the
latest release.
 If you have installed two releases, by default Mathcad files open with the latest
release. To open files in an earlier release, you must manually set file association. In
Windows Explorer, right-click a file, select Open with, and then click the desired
program from the shortcut menu.
 After you install Mathcad Prime 4.0, integrations with Windchill® Workgroup
Manager, Windchill ProductPoint, Pro/ENGINEER®, Creo® Elements/Pro®, and Creo
Parametric® will no longer work with earlier releases of the product.
 If you previously registered Mathcad releases Prime 3.1, Prime 3.0, Prime 2.0 or
Prime 1.0 with Windchill Workgroup Manager, you must repeat the process and
register Mathcad Prime 4.0. Use the Application Management utility.
 If you have one or more releases of Mathcad installed on your computer, you can
remove one or all of them. You must uninstall them in descending order, and then
reinstall them in ascending order.
 After installing Mathcad Prime 4.0, you can only use the latest XMCD, MCD
Converter to convert legacy Mathcad worksheets into Mathcad Prime 4.0 worksheets.
Operating System Support
PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 runs on Windows 7.0* (32–bit or 64–bit), Windows 8.1 (32–bit or
64–bit), or Windows 10.0 (32–bit or 64–bit) compatible machine.

* Mathcad Prime 4.0 requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 (or a later, Microsoft certified
compatible replacement version of .NET). On Windows 7 client computers, Microsoft .NET
Framework is enabled by default. On Windows 7 servers, this feature is disabled and you must
enable it through Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off.

Installing Mathcad 15.0 M030 or Later

The installation of Mathcad 15.0 M030 or later is a separate process. The installation
process uninstalls any previously installed versions. You can download the latest release
from http://www.ptc.com/support/mathcad.htm.

System Requirements and Hardware Certification Information

Visit the Platform Support page for Mathcad Prime 4.0 for updated system requirements
and certified hardware configurations.

2 PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0

Licensing
Full product licensing options include floating, locked, or registered-user volume licenses,
all of which (except for perpetual licenses) must be renewed on an annual basis.
 A 30-day, full capability license can be used by any workstations on your network.
After the 30-day period, the product reverts to Mathcad Express Prime 4.0.
 Floating licenses can be used by any workstation on your network.
 Locked licenses can only be used on specified workstations.
 Registered-user licenses are administered from a license server. They are always
allocated to a particular workstation, regardless of whether the workstation is
running Mathcad at the time.
Note: For floating licenses, in addition to use of a single license server, Mathcad Prime
4.0 supports the configuration of the triad license server.
For more information on licensing, see the PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 Installation and
Administration Guide.

Language Support
The Mathcad Prime 4.0 user interface and documentation are translated into French,
German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese,
and Russian. During installation, the PTC Installation Assistant installs the product
based on the language and locale settings of your computer. By clicking the Customize
button, you can select whether to install the Help according to the locale settings of your
computer or in all languages. Within the Help, you can choose to change the Help
language.

To run the application in a language different from your operating system locale (e.g. to
run German on a Belgian system), follow these directions.

1. Click the Windows Start button to access the Run dialog box or the command line.
2. To get the correct path needed for your 32-bit or 64-bit version, right-click the
Mathcad Prime 4.0 icon on your desktop. Click Properties, and copy the path shown
in the Target text box. As example path follows:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\PTC\Mathcad Prime 4.0\MathcadPrime.exe"

This path is for a 32-bit version of Mathcad Prime running on a 64-bit computer.
3. In the Run dialog box or at the command line, paste the path. Include the quotation
marks at both ends, leave a space and type /culture: followed by a command
argument for one of the languages shown in the next table. For example, to run
Mathcad Prime in French using the path above, the following command would be
used:
"C:\Program Files (x64)\PTC\Mathcad Prime 4.0\MathcadPrime.exe"
/culture:fr-FR

Abbreviations for all languages follow:

PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 3

 Language Command Argument

English en-US
French fr-FR
German de-DE
Italian it-IT
Japanese ja-JP
Korean ko-KR
Russian ru-RU
Spanish es-ES
Simplified Chinese zh-CN
Traditional Chinese zh-TW

To view system messages in a language other than English, you must download and install
the .NET Framework language pack that matches the language you are using for Mathcad
Prime 4.0. The language packs can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/download/details.aspx?id=53323.

Using Function Names and Keyboard Shortcuts in Supported Languages

For Mathcad Prime 4.0, function names remain in English for all languages.
Keyboard shortcuts for certain commands do not work on non-English keyboards in
Mathcad Prime 4.0. You can access those operators and commands from the Ribbon.
You can access the list of all keyboard shortcuts from the Resources tab in the Ribbon.

Interoperability
PTC Product Interoperability with Mathcad Prime 4.0

Creo Parametric In addition to the existing Mathcad Prime Analysis

Feature integration, Mathcad Prime 4.0 includes the
Engineering Notebook, powered by PTC Mathcad. With
this functionality you can embed a Mathcad worksheet
directly within a Creo part or assembly, enabling the user
to document design intent or critical engineering decisions
within the Creo model itself. It also allows data to be
shared between the embedded Mathcad worksheet and the
Creo model using existing Creo UI and relations to link
parameters. For embedded Mathcad worksheets, click
Assign Inputs or Assign Outputs from the Integration
group on the Input/Output tab to designate parameters
to be shared with Creo.
Windchill Workgroup Work directly from Mathcad with these products. For

4 PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0

 PTC Product Interoperability with Mathcad Prime 4.0
Manager (Windchill example, you can check in and check out files to Windchill,
PDMLink®, and you can open and save your Windchill files from
Pro/INTRALINK®, Mathcad.
Windchill ProjectLink™)

Mathcad Prime 4.0 Help Center—Help and Books

The English language Help and books for Mathcad Prime 4.0 are on the DVD. You can
download localized versions via the PTC Installation Assistant. You can access the Help
Center by clicking the question mark icon on the right end of the Ribbon or by pressing
F1. The following items are in Help Center:
 Searchable, context-sensitive Help
 Getting Started Tutorial
 Programming Tutorial
 Solving Tutorial
 Reference Tables (Available only in English)
Mathcad Prime provides direct access to many resources from the Resources tab on the
Ribbon.

To access PTC documentation from the Web, you must have a PTC account, or register
for one at http://www.ptc.com/appserver/common/account/basic.jsp.

Firewall and Internet Issues

In a few cases, Mathcad Prime 4.0 may access the Internet:

 Help Center: Mathcad Prime 4.0 uses HTTP to access the Help Center. If an active
firewall on your computer warns that Mathcad Prime 4.0 or the Help Center is
attempting to access the Internet, you must allow this access. Mathcad Prime 4.0
does not access the Internet, but it opens an HTTP connection to the Help Center on
the local host. If local Help is installed, the Help Center runs as an HTTP server on
the first available port. Configure your firewall to allow this access. If your company
policies do not allow the Help Center to run on your local system, consider setting up
a shared remote Help Center.
 News and Information: Mathcad Prime 4.0 uses an RSS feed to display current news
and information about Mathcad within the application window. This reporting
feature can be disabled when using a full license. When using either the 30-day, full
capability license or Mathcad Express (no license), this panel cannot be disabled, but
it can be turned off after startup.
 PTC Diagnostic Tools data reporting: Mathcad Prime 4.0 performance and usage
data is collected and transmitted to PTC servers via SSL. You can disable data
reporting when using Mathcad Prime 4.0 with a full license. When using either the
30-day, full capability license or Mathcad Express Prime 4.0 (no license), this
capability cannot be disabled.

PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 5

Converting Files from Previous Versions of Mathcad
From Mathcad Prime 4.0, you cannot directly open documents (mcd, xmcd, xmcdz)
created with Mathcad 15.0 or earlier. You must convert them using the PTC Mathcad
Prime 4.0 XMCD, MCD Converter. Mathcad 15.0 M045 or later must be installed on the
computer.
Access the converter from the Input/Output tab or from the Windows Start menu. For
more information on file conversion, see the PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0 Migration Guide.

Compatibility between Versions of Mathcad Prime

Mathcad Prime 4.0 can open worksheets last saved in Mathcad Prime 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and
3.1. It can also open worksheets last saved in Mathcad Prime 2.0 M010. However,
Mathcad Prime 1.0, Mathcad Prime 2.0, Mathcad Prime 3.0 and Mathcad prime 3.1
cannot open worksheets last saved in Mathcad Prime 4.0.

©2017 PTC Inc. The information contained herein is provided for informational use and
is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for PTC products and services
are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services
and nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. PTC shall
not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. Important
Copyright, Trademark, Patent, and Licensing Information: See the About Box, or
copyright notice, of your PTC software.

6 PTC Mathcad Prime 4.0