E-Books and Extension Packs

The Mathsoft series of E-books and Extension Packs are collections of Mathcad documents covering specific topics in a variety of fields, including Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Data Analysis, Signal Processing, Image Processing, and other topics.

Mathcad Extension Packs

A Mathcad Extension Pack adds new functions, and sometimes other components, to Mathcad. Documentation and sample files are provided through an E-book and additional Help files. For example, the Signal Processing Extension Pack adds functions for designing digital filters and analyzing signals and includes an E-book that shows how to use these functions.

Mathcad E-books

A Mathcad E-book is a collection of searchable, cross-referenced, hyperlinked Mathcad documents. All E-books installed in the Handbook directory appear in the Resources toolbar and under E-books in the Help menu. Instructions on making your own E-books can be found in the Author's Reference.

When you select one of these books, it opens in a separate Resources Window, the same window used for Help. All E-books have features that make them especially useful when you're working with Mathcad:

• Every page is a live worksheet so you can change values and calculate results.

• You can copy and paste data and formulas into your own Mathcad worksheet.

• You can browse the book page by page using the arrow keys on the toolbar or by clicking on links within the book.

• You can search the text.

• You can make changes and save them as annotations.

To find out about the many E-books and Extension Packs available from Mathsoft, go to the Mathsoft Webstore at http://webstore.mathsoft.com or download free E-books from the Mathcad library at http://www.mathcad.com/library/.

Making your own E-books

You can consider E-book technology as a publishing medium. You can use E-books as a way to collect a set of related documents either for your own use, or to distribute to others in your organization or community. You can, if you wish, use QuickSheets in Mathcad as a guide for setting up your own book. Examine other E-Books from the Mathcad Web Library to see what others have done.

There are several steps to creating an E-book, as documented in the Author's Reference under Help:

1. Creating individual Mathcad files.

2. Preparing a Table of Contents.

3. Adding hyperlinks between appropriate files.

4. Creating an HBK file to specify the order of the files in the book.

5. Developing an index (optional).

6. Checking the index, HBK file, and worksheets for errors.

We recommend reading all steps of the process before you start creating an E-book.