"While single-purpose programs are superior here and there, there is no other package that I know that does so much so well," Zahm said. "In my role as system analyst to a wide variety of programs, this capability is critical."

Target Location System Gets a Closer Look

If you're involved in electronic warfare, you don't want to miss your mark. That's what Thomas P. Zahm of Hughes Defense Communications is trying to ensure by using Mathematica to design and analyze the performance of a target location system that is under development.

Zahm said recent flight tests indicated a deficiency in the performance of a new target location system and he turned to Mathematica to find the answers.

"I used Mathematica's symbolic powers to derive algorithms, the programming capabilities to simulate the results, and then the graphic features to visualize the results," Zahm said. "The symbolic capabilities of Mathematica allowed me to develop a new and more accurate algorithm and prove it correct without compromising either schedule or budget."

Key features of Mathematica used:

• Numeric--algebraic and trigonometric equations; evaluation of algebraic, trigonometric, and Bessel functions
• Symbolic--algebraic and trigonometric equations, matrix manipulations
• Graphic--2D, 3D, list, density, and contour plots
• Programming--procedural and functional
• Notebook