Wolfram Research Makes Mathematica Faster and Smarter: New Math Abilities and Enhanced Windows Performance

New optimizations have led to major speed increases in almost all kernel operations under both Windows 95 and Windows NT. In particular, performance on Pentium-class processors has been greatly enhanced. Although precise speed increases are system dependent, many typical calculation-intensive operations, such as large matrix manipulations, are now at least 50% faster.

Mathematica's extraordinary base of built-in math knowledge continues to expand. Mathematica can now perform even more algebraic transformations, sums, simplifications, and symbolic integrations than ever before--vastly more than were possible for either computers or humans.

Recognizing the growing importance of Mathematica in Japan, Wolfram Research has added Japanese language compatibility on the Windows and MacOS platforms. Japanese language support includes copy and paste, native Japanese file names, printing to PostScript and HP PCL printers, and the use of Japanese text in dialog boxes such as search and replace. Mathematica's ability to export notebooks in HTML format for presentation on the web now also extends to Japanese text. Additionally, a Japanese Language Kit is in preparation, allowing the user to see Mathematica menus, dialog boxes, messages, and online help in Japanese.

Printing under Windows has been improved in several ways. Printing to HP PCL printers, for example, now requires significantly less memory. On some types of graphics, the memory usage has been reduced by as much as 90%. Color gradations and other features of color printers are now fully supported, and PostScript font handling has been improved.

"This release is a snapshot of where the state of the art is right now," said Roger Germundsson, Director of Research and Development at Wolfram Research. "But we're already at work on some exciting new ideas for the next version."