MathSoft Announces Axum 7 for Unparalleled Technical Charting and Analysis.

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2001

Leading Technical Graphing Solution Offers Enhanced Functionality, Integration and Ease of Use to Create and Publish Professional Graphs

MathSoft, the leading provider of interactive math, science, engineering and educational software, content and Web services, today announced the availability of Axum(R) 7, a major upgrade to the leading technical graphing package. Built on version 4 of the powerful S language, Axum 7 offers unmatched control, interoperability, and data analysis to power challenging and complex graphing requirements. This new version of Axum, which is fully integrated into Mathcad 2001i Premium and also available independently, lets professionals within the engineering, scientific, pharmaceutical, medical, research, and analyst communities worldwide visualize data relationships and produce publication-quality graphs.

Axum 7 offers users the widest selection of plot types available on the market, making it the most advanced tool available for designing and publishing technical graphs. Axum 7 combines more than 100 2D and 3D plot types in a point-and-click format to quickly and easily build graphs and charts. Combined with the tool's seamless integration with leading calculation packages like Mathcad and Excel, Axum 7 improves engineer's and other technical professional's design efficiency and accuracy. Additionally, the tool offers the critical data analysis required to reveal and document complex patterns and relationships within technical data.

"The introduction of Axum 7 continues MathSoft's leadership in providing the quality products and tools needed by today's engineers. The enhanced analysis and plotting capabilities, as well as the critical integration with other leading software packages, helps the technical community work more efficiently--saving both time and money," said Chris Randles, chairman and CEO of MathSoft Engineering and Education, Inc. "Axum 7 lets users quickly document and chart their work, a critical step in the sharing and publishing of research. By improving its core functionality and offering additional analytical and statistical tests, Axum continues to serve as the standard for producing professional-quality graphs and charts."

As an integrated part of Mathcad 2001i's Premium edition package, Axum 7 optimizes Mathcad's interactive design, calculation and reporting capabilities to create the most comprehensive and easy-to-use design and publishing tool. As a standalone application, Axum unlocks the power of data to create a comprehensible and meaningful representation through analysis and visualization.

New Features of Axum 7

Axum 7 delivers the following new and enhanced features and capabilities to enable users to better share and present their data:

-- Based on Version 4 of The Powerful S Language--Axum lets users program
interactively using the S-PLUS base programming language, which is based on the
S language. The S language underpinning Axum 7 is a rich environment designed
for interactive data discovery and is the only language created specifically
for data visualization and exploration, statistical modeling and programming
with data. Version 4 of the S language gives Axum 7 enhanced object-oriented
capabilities, support for large data sets, and enhanced performance and memory
management.

-- Unparalleled Performance and Ease of Use--Users benefit from vastly improved
computational performance, as well as a speedier graphical user interface.
Users also have the freedom of point and click creation for graphs and charts.
Axum can create professional looking results with over 100 2D and 3D plot types
that are as easy to use as selecting the data being utilized for the chart and
clicking a button. The Axum 7 Object Explorer enables the user to easily view
and manipulate the contents of any attached database. This version also
includes a redesigned help system and a migration wizard that allows users to
quickly move files from Axum 6.

-- Incorporates New and Enhanced Graphics Features--Axum 7 adds many new plot
types and additional upgraded graphics features:

- A probability plot comparing probability distributions.

- A quality control chart (the Pareto plot), which is sorted on the dependent
variable combined with a line plot displaying cumulative percentages of the
categories.

- Additional formatting options for box plots to provide increased flexibility
and customization, such as horizontal orientation, user-defined box widths,
separate colors for each box and new options for using quartiles and fourths
(hinges).

-- Includes More Data Analysis Tools--Axum 7 leverages extensive data analysis
tools to reveal complex patterns and relationships. The new statistical
techniques found in Axum 7 include the ability to perform the Shapiro-Wilk test
for normality, compute the Durbin-Watson test statistic to test for serial
correlation and command-line access to skewness and kurtosis. In addition, key
statistical functions, such as linear regression, now operate on large data
sets.

-- Increased Interoperability with Software Packages--Axum 7, already fully
integrated with Mathcad 2001i, enables users to work seamlessly with Mathcad,
Excel and other leading packages, including PowerPoint, Lotus Worksheets,
S-PLUS, SAS, dBase, MATLAB and more. The tighter integration with Microsoft
Excel in Axum 7 makes it easier than ever to analyze data stored in Excel
format to create graphics or perform statistical analyses directly from the
data. Axum 7 also adds the ability to import MATLAB 5 files and to import and
export SAS 7 and 8 files. This interoperability creates an efficient workspace,
ensuring the integrity of the final graph.

-- Additional Graph Sheet Capabilities--Axum 7 lets users simultaneously export
all the pages of a multi-page Graph Sheet, allowing them to specify the
precision to use when inserting a curve-fit equation. Axum 7's enhanced
PowerPoint Wizard makes it unnecessary to save Graph Sheets to disk before
using them in a presentation. In addition, users can now export specific pages,
as well as all pages, of a Graph Sheet at one time. Users also benefit from
axis labeling when time/date variables are used.

-- Unprecedented Control--Axum 7 lets users edit any level of detail within the
graph, including line weight, font, color, axes and symbol types. Users are
able to meet their exact graphing needs by customizing the graphical toolbars,
menus and dialogs. In addition to new plot types and analysis tools, users have
more flexibility and control over box plots and times series formatting for
publication-quality results.

-- Professional Quality Graphs--Axum 7 offers a wide range of high-quality
graph types, making it easy to produce professional-looking charts for the
documentation of technical work. Axum lets users combine and edit multiple
graphs on a single page, plot multi-dimensional data in a series of panels,
rotate 3D graphs and more, creating an interactive and integrated workspace. In
addition, Axum 7 uses less memory, enabling faster data access for graphics.

Pricing and Availability

Axum 7 is available immediately for Windows 98/ME, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP at an SRP of $499.99 for a single-user license. Special academic pricing is available for $299.99. Axum 7 is available through the MathSoft Web Store at www.mathsoft.com and through reseller and mail order channels. Volume licensing, upgrade pricing and academic pricing are available by calling 1-800-628-4223.

About MathSoft Engineering & Education, Inc.

MathSoft Engineering & Education, Inc., is the leading provider of interactive math, science, engineering and educational software products and content. The company's Mathcad and StudyWorks!(R) product lines use patented technology to combine rich, interactive content with powerful tools for learning, communicating and applying mathematics in real-world technical applications. Mathcad, the internationally recognized standard for technical calculation and applying mathematics, is deployed at 90% of the Fortune 1000 companies, over 500 government installations, and more than 2,000 colleges and universities. StudyWorks, a market leader with over one million licensees, enhances the teaching and learning of math and science online and in secondary education, helping students explore and understand key subjects. Based in Cambridge, Mass., MathSoft Engineering & Education, Inc., has additional offices in the U.K. and Germany and distributors in over 50 countries. The company can be found on the Web at www.mathsoft.com.

Mathcad and StudyWorks are registered trademarks of MathSoft Engineering &Education, Inc. Axum is a registered trademark of Insightful Corporation. MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks and Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other names or marks may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.