Mathsoft Announces EnvironmentalStats for S-PLUS; Powerful Software Provides Environmental Analysts With Comprehensive Toolkit.

Business Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2000

MathSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq:MATH), provider of the broadest line of technical calculation and analytical software for business and academia, today introduced EnvironmentalStats(R) for S-PLUS(R), the latest addition to the S-PLUS product family.

The full-featured software provides analysts with a powerful environmental data analysis tool.

Designed for environmental analysts, consultants, and engineers, EnvironmentalStats for S-PLUS allows users to access, analyze and visualize chemical, physical, and environmental data. Users can compare their analyses against current environmental statistics and EPA regulatory guidance documents.

"EnvironmentalStats for S-PLUS is an indispensable data analysis toolkit for environmental data. An all-inclusive desktop solution, this software has improved my productivity by offering cutting-edge analytical tools and regulatory reference material in one product," says Michael Ginevan, risksciences.com.

"We are committed to delivering high-performance analytical software to G.I.S. professionals. From premier S-PLUS for ArcView(R) to our current release, we continue to research, develop, and distribute powerful tools to meet the changing needs of this market," says Shawn Javid, senior vice president and general manager, MathSoft Inc.

Selected features and benefits of EnvironmentalStats for S-PLUS include:

-- Additional Probability Distributions--Model environmental data

and assess risk using additional probability distributions,

including: 3-Parameter, Lognormal, Generalized Extreme Value,

Truncated Normal and Lognormal, Mixtures of Normals or

Lognormals, Pareto and Triangular.

-- Estimation of Distribution Parameters, Quantiles, and

Confidence Intervals--Estimate parameters and compute

confidence intervals using Maximum Likelihood, Minimum

Variance Unbiased, Method of Moments, and Method of L-Moments.

-- Goodness-of-Fit Tests--Apply the standard tests for normality

and plotting methods to determine how the hypothesized

distribution fits the observed data.

-- Special Hypothesis Tests--Detect trends and discover important

patterns in environmental data using Seasonal Kendall Test for

Trend and the Quantile Test for Detecting Shifts in Tail of

Distribution.

-- Sample Size and Power Calculations and Plots--Examine how

changing a sample size affects the study effectiveness.

-- Built-in Data Sets--Reference and access data sets from EPA

regulatory guidance documents.

Availability

EnvironmentalStats for S-PLUS is available for S-PLUS 2000 Professional, stand-alone version, on Windows 95/98/NT.

About S

MathSoft's data analysis product family, which includes S-PLUS(R) and MathSoft StatServer(R), is based on S, an object-oriented language developed at Lucent Technologies specifically for data visualization, exploration and programming with data. S provides a rich, object-oriented environment designed for interactive data discovery. With a huge library of functions for all aspects of computing with data, S offers unmatched power, flexibility, and extensibility. The S System was recently honored with the prestigious Software Systems Award given by the Association for Computing Machinery. Other hallmark technologies recognized with this award include UNIX, TCP/IP, Tcl/Tk, INGRES, and Mosaic. MathSoft has exclusive worldwide rights to develop and distribute products incorporating the S technology.

About MathSoft

Founded in 1984, MathSoft is the provider of the broadest line of technical calculation and analytical software for business and academia. With MathSoft's products, users can deploy technical calculations and exploratory data analyses across their entire organizations. The company has more than 1.3 million users of its Mathcad(R), StudyWorks(R), S-PLUS(R), StatServer(R) and Axum(R) software worldwide. Users include technical professionals worldwide at more than 90% of the Fortune 1,000 companies and over 500 government installations, and students and faculty at over 2,000 colleges and universities. FreeScholarships.com, Inc., www.freescholarships.com, a subsidiary of MathSoft, Inc., helps families and students meet the rising costs of education by giving away money for school in daily online drawings and auctions. Founded in 1999, the site provides information on schools, funding, and careers, while serving as an entertainment, shopping, and community center for visitors of all ages.

S-PLUS product information can be obtained via MathSoft's Web site located at http://www.splus.mathsoft.com, by phone at 1-800/569-0123, by fax at 206/283-8691 or via mail at 1700 Westlake Avenue North, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109. MathSoft's corporate headquarters can be reached by phone at 1-800/628-4223, by fax at 617/577-8829 or via mail at 101 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142.

Axum, Mathcad, StudyWorks, S-PLUS and StatServer are registered trademarks and the MathSoft logo is a trademark of MathSoft, Inc. Other product and service names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.