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Please notice that scilab sources from the trunk branch will not be available during some weeks
PARIS, France; WATERLOO, Canada; CAMBRIDGE, Mass.; and AUSTIN, Texas – Jan. 10, 2006 -- The Numerical Mathematics Consortium today announced the availability of its preliminary technical specification, which outlines a list of more than 250 numerical mathematical functions the consortium plans to standardize. The consortium identified these functions in an effort to define an open mathematics semantics standard for numerical algorithm development that enables portability and reuse among tools, platforms and disciplines.
The consortium, comprising leading mathematics software vendors and interested individuals from industry and academia, has identified this core set of mathematical functions applicable to numeric algorithms with an emphasis on matrix computations. These more than 250 functions are grouped under the following 14 classes: approximation, integration and interpolation; Boolean functions; relational operators; elementary functions; linear algebra; math constants; matrix generation; matrix operators; membership functions; polynomial functions; set operators; special functions; statistic functions; and vector analysis.
The Numerical Mathematics Consortium was established to create a standard specification for numeric mathematics that ensures algorithm portability across platforms and enables compatibility among applications through standardizing core mathematical definitions, algorithm interchangeability and function semantics. The organization’s objective is to create a specification that defines a core mathematical function set applicable to numeric algorithms. Algorithms that meet the specification can be used in a wide variety of application areas such as industrial control, embedded design and scientific research, as well as be easily reused by researchers and developers in industry and academia.
Founding members of the Numerical Mathematics Consortium include INRIA (Scilab Publisher), Maplesoft, Mathsoft and National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI). Numerous individuals from leading industry and academic institutions are supporting the consortium in both membership and advisory roles to provide review and guidance on the development of these technical standards.
“The Numerical Mathematics Consortium has accomplished an important step by identifying the function categories and the core functions in each category to standardize, based on usage across a wide variety of applications,” said Dr. Robert H. Bishop, professor and chairman of the University of Texas Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. “This sets a strong foundation for the consortium to accomplish the next phase of its mission – to standardize the semantic definitions of these core functions. The Numerical Mathematics Consortium’s efforts will have a large impact in overcoming the current lack of compatibility across multiple numeric math tools and facilitate ease of algorithm reuse.”
Vendors and individuals interested in reviewing the preliminary specification of core mathematical functions applicable to numeric algorithms can visit the Numerical Mathematics Consortium Web site at www.nmconsortium.org. Membership is open to all and highly recommended to those who wish to participate actively and influence the specification.
The Numerical Mathematics Consortium is a nonprofit organization comprising vendors and individuals in industry and academia committed to establishing an open mathematical semantics standard for numerical algorithm development and reuse.
Focused on reducing the overall cost of numerical algorithm development and reuse in different disciplines, the Numerical Mathematics Consortium is committed to ensuring algorithm portability through standardizing core mathematical definitions, algorithm interchangeability and function semantics.
The consortium’s charter document, specification, list of founding member companies and testimonials from advisors and member companies are available at www.nmconsortium.org. Vendors and individuals interested in taking an active role in standardizing numerical mathematics also can visit the Web site for information on joining the consortium.
Developed originally by INRIA and ENPC, the Scilab software is, since May 2003, produced by a consortium, managed by INRIA, which, to date, has 20* industrial companies, European research centres and "Grandes Ecoles" as members.
The creation of the Scilab Consortium reflects an asserted will to have a European "Open Source" numerical computation software of high quality.
Scilab is developed by a dedicated and permanent team hosted by INRIA. Moreover, its Open Source nature allows external contributions and thus a level of know-how in the field of the scientific computation can be reached, which a single company can claim with difficulty. Every user can adapt the software to his/her needs. The code being open, an optimization of the use is always possible.
More than 15,000 remote downloads of the Scilab software are carried out each month from the official site of the Consortium to the profit of companies, universities and research centres, European as well as foreign. The number of members of the Scilab Consortium is in constant growth.
INRIA, the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, is dedicated to fundamental and applied research in information and communication science and technology (ICST). INRIA welcomes, in six research units implanted in seven major regions *, 3500 persons, 2700 of whom are scientists (from INRIA and associated organizations). INRIA has an annual budget of 135 million euros, 20% of which comes from its own research contracts and development products.
INRIA plays a key role in five fields of research: systems communicating, cognitive, symbolic systems, numerical and biological. INRIA develops many partnerships with industry and fosters technology transfer and company foundations (close to 80) in the field of ICST, in particular through its INRIA-Transfer subsidiary, promoter of four start- up funds.
International collaborations appear by the reception and the recruitment of foreign students as well as by significant exchanges between researchers. The priority is given to the geographic zones with strong economic potential: European research area, Asia and North America while maintaining a thorough activity with South America, Africa and the Middle East.
| Editor Contact | Scilab Consortium & NMC (Europe) Reader Contact |
| Vincent Coronini | Claude Gomez |
| INRIA | INRIA (Scilab Publisher) |
| Tel.: +33 1 39 63 57 29 | Tel.: +33 1 39 63 55 77 |
| Mail: vincent.coronini@inria.fr | Mail: claude.gomez@inria.fr |
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