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[Phys-l] A Tale of two Calcs



I caught an ad post extolling the virtues of a new math calc app.
From Mathcad , a name which I can too easily confuse with Matlab.

It's a presentation quality write it on paper approach, with intermediate results available at all times. They offered a month's trial, with a puzzle as bait: calculate the dynamics of a
laser straight railroad tunnel between NY and SF for a given train, with given mass air density, coefficient of drag, g constant, effective cross section area etc.
No rolling friction from the maglev - just drag force and gravity....

How much (constant) thrust, to get to the far end?

Toying with getting a copy, I noticed the going price is around $1 with three zeroes.

So I started looking for discount/student versions etc.
And waddaya know: there was SMath - comparable to Mathcad but attractively priced - free - with tutorials available too.

So I took a look. This does not produce presentation quality print outs, but it does use the solvers and other bells and whistles that the high-end calcs offer.
You might give it a try.

Brian W