Analytix       mechanical engineering/CAE/constructive geometry
Mechanical Engineering by Dimension
 
Microbytes Daily News Service
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
A mechanical engineering program for Microsoft Windows called
Analytix uses a geometry system that lets you perform kinematic,
static, dynamic, and tolerance analysis without entering formulas
or using a spreadsheet. Saltire Software says the system, called
constructive variational geometry (CVG), offers the advantages of
speed, accuracy, stability, and simplicity over the conventional
approach of using numerical analysis techniques.
 
Saltire's program, Analytix, uses constructive geometry to reduce
a geometric figure to a sequence of constructions. Once you've
dimensioned a sketch, you can solve kinematics and statics
problems analytically, instead of converting the geometry problem
to an algebraic problem.
 
The algebraic approach can be flawed in that the algebraic
problem may not coincide exactly with the geometry problem, the
company says. In some cases, the problem can yield multiple
solutions, or none at all, when solved algebraically. Analytix
chooses the solution that is closest geometrically to the
sketch. When doing tolerance analysis, Saltire says one of the
advantages of using CVG over the Monte-Carlo technique is you
get true maximum/minimum tolerances.
 
Analytix runs on the IBM PC AT with 640K bytes of RAM and a
hard-disk drive.
 
Price: $895.
 
Contact: Saltire Software, Inc., P.O. Box 1565, Beaverton, OR
97075, (503) 642-1874.
 
                              --- David L. Andrews
 
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