Issues

Rob Meyer, CEO, Numerical Algorithms Group

Felix Grant takes a look at the foundations of mathematical modelling

Contemporary science is a huge undertaking, ranging from the inanimate and almost unimaginably enormous, as in cosmology, to the study of living processes, as in molecular biology and ecology. So varied and diverse does today's science appear that it is difficult sometimes to see the threads linking such apparently different intellectual disciplines. It is very pleasing therefore that this issue of Scientific Computing World contains some pertinent reminders of common themes and common methods.

Scientific Computing World is published from Cambridge, England, an area of the country notorious for the flatness of its landscape, without the merest vestige of a hill. There is a modest irony, therefore, that the common theme of the articles in this issue of the magazine is 'mountains'.

Anyone who needs general data analysis or visualisation, and not just life-science specialists, should take a look at Biosoft's new software, says Felix Grant

Felix Grant explores visualisation software from the Rocky Mountains whose origins lie in geomapping.

Felix Grant tried out StatTools on some new users, who found the whole experience painlessly educational

David Bradley finds that the chemistry content more than makes up for the not so fashionable style in this Finnish software package

Felix Grant used Origin and SigmaPlot to understand the effects of industrialisation on groundwater and, in a modest way, to help after the tsunami.

One of the fears at the start of the information technology age was 'de-skilling': word-processors would replace typists, and automated machine-tools would make factory workers redundant. Even those with scientific training have felt the effects of such developments: software has made many of the mathematical techniques that I learned at university redundant.

The phrase 'science and technology' always appears with the words in that order. Implicit in the ordering is an assumption that there is a sort of unidirectional flow: science first produces the knowledge and then this is applied in the form of technology. It's akin to the 'central dogma' of molecular biology: that DNA makes RNA makes protein. Information travels along a one-way street.

Ray Girvan investigates TRIZ; a methodology for formalising the invention process according to empirical rules

Felix Grant finds the simplicity of FlexPro 5.0 belies its hidden depth.

Felix Grant takes a look at some of the latest specialist add-in modules for stats packages

Ray Girvan is impressed with the upgrade to the mathematics package, finding it genuinely useful to scientists and educators

Statistical analysis revealed that potters should watch which way the wind blows when preparing their clay. Felix Grant reviews the successes of SigmaStat and Statistica

A few months ago, Stephen Wolfram was probably best known in scientific computing circles for his outstanding practical contribution to the field as creator of the popular Mathematica software package. However, with the publicity surrounding the launch of A New Kind of Science, it's hard to be unaware now of his other credentials as a prodigy who skipped school and a first degree to receive a CalTech PhD in theoretical physics at 20.

This latest version of VSN's heavyweight flagship, a substantial update like all its predecessors, is everything that users would expect from its long development history rooted in practical experience at the coalface. It also builds on recent work to dramatically enhance the facilities for exploratory users.

The international pharmaceutical industry has been phenomenally successful over the past couple of decades in decreasing the burden of human suffering - at least for those of us fortunate enough to live in the prosperous market economies of the developed countries.

What is scientific computing? This may seem a strange question for me to pose in the leader column of a magazine that has flourished for many years by providing articles on precisely this topic for its readers. If we don't know what scientific computing is, who would?

Conventional spreadsheets are limited by the fact that each cell holds a single scalar value. Felix Grant finds that DADiSP 2002 - nominally a spreadsheet - breaks through these limitation.

David Bradley on software designed to ease the organisation of spectral data.

Brian Cogan assesses the relative strengths of the various optimisation packages on the market.

Ray Girvan explores the friendly face of mathematics packages

Have haystack, will search for needle. Felix Grant looks at Umetric's latest contribution to multivariate analysis via SIMCA-P

Perceptive readers of this issue of Scientific Computing World may notice a subtle difference. The magazine is now under the ownership of Europa Science. This dedicated science-publishing company has been formed jointly by the two organisations that have been working on the magazine for the past three years: Cambridge Publishers, and 2020 Communications.

A new algorithm from Accelrys may transform powder diffraction indexing, writes David Bradley

As an analytical chemist and new user, Alan Wicks enjoyed coming to terms with ChemOffice.

Felix Grant finds that he can travel light, even with a heavy burden of data.

Ray Girvan wonders why the latest upgrade of Maplesoft's maths program wasn't around when he was at university

Felix Grant checks out Minitab's and Systat's latest incarnations.

From a dune in the depths of the Sahel desert, Felix Grant accessed free statistics software using a handheld. But, he discovered, there are costs other than monetary ones.

SciFace's MuPAD 3.0 and MapleSoft's Maple 9.5 make an interesting pairing, even if similarities are coincidental, writes Ray Girvan.