Overview
In collaboration with the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), CIRC provides hands-on workshops on mathematical and statistical software packages including MATLAB, Microsoft Access, SAS, S-Plus, and SPSS. We offer both introductory workshops for first-time users as well as advanced workshops on more specialized features of the software packages.
The workshops are taught interactively in an instructional computer lab at UMBC by CIRC personnel and are accompanied by tutorial handouts.
“I am thrilled to be partnering with [the Department of] Mathematics and Statistics to support CIRC. Through our partnership with CIRC, OIT can refer faculty and graduate students to faculty and students in CIRC with much more expertise in statistics and simulation than OIT could ever provide.” – Jack Suess, Vice President for Information Technology, UMBC
Software Descriptions
MATLAB — Information about MATLAB
MATLAB is a popular mathematical software package that combines efficient linear algebra operations and powerful graphics with an intuitive, interactive user interface. MATLAB can be useful for a wide range of applications from basic matrix and vector manipulations to full-color 2-D and 3-D visualization. For more information, visit the MathWorks website. If you are new to UMBC or interested in where to begin using MATLAB on the UMBC campus, the following brief introduction on how to get started using MATLAB at UMBC is useful.
Datafile for Basic MATLAB Workshop: matlabdata.dat.
Datafiles for Basic MATLAB Programming: score1.m , fibonacci.m, hilbert1.m
Datafiles for 3D Graphics Workshop: volcanox.dat, volcanoy.dat, volcanoz.dat.
Datafiles for Numerical Methods Workshop: testode.m, predatorprey.m.
Datafiles for Intermediate Programming: plotQuadratic.m, de_driver.m, euler.m, frhs.m, plot_error.m, plot_sol.m, true_sol.m.
Datafile for Advanced Programming Homework: A.mat
Octave
GNU Octave is a free software package which utilizes a high-level language for numerical computations, linear algebra operations and graphics. Octave uses a command line interface for solving both linear and nonlinear problems. Octave’s language is generally compatible with Matlab, and thus most Matlab code can be run in Octave with few or no changes. For more information, visit the GNU Octave website.
Datafile for Basic Octave Workshop: octavedata.dat.
COMSOL Multiphysics — Information about COMSOL
COMSOL Multiphysics is a powerful package for the solution of partial differential equations using the Finite Element Method (FEM). It is extremely intuitive and user-friendly because of its sophisticated graphical user interface (GUI). The user does not need to know the numerical methods used inside the package. For more information, visit the COMSOL website. If you are interested in where to begin using COMSOL on the UMBC campus, the following brief introduction is useful.
Mathematica
Mathematica is a powerful mathematical software that combines symbolic and numerical computations. Mathematica can be useful in all areas of mathematics including applications in graphing, calculcus, and linear algebra. For more information, visit the Wolfram Research website.
Maple
Maple is a popular package for symbolic computations such as computing derivatives and integrals and solving non-linear systems of equations. Additionally, Maple has numerical computation and graphing capabilities, both in two and three dimensions. For more information, visit the Maplesoft website.
SAS
SAS is a powerful statistical software package. It can handle most data analysis issues ranging from simple data exploration to advanced modeling. SAS has convenient built-in functions and procedures for dealing with a large variety of statistical problems. For more information, visit the SAS website.
Datafiles for download: Profit.xls, Salary.csv.
SAS Enterprise Guide
SAS Enterprise Guide provides access to the power of the SAS statistical software package through a user-friendly point-and-click interface. Automatic code generation and a graphical process flow diagram allow the non-statistician to perform data analysis without becoming lost in the intricacies of programming. For more information, visit the SAS website.
Datafiles for download: Profit.xls, Salary.csv.
S-Plus
S-Plus is a powerful statistical software package that handles most data analysis issues ranging from simple data exploration to advanced modeling. It also has extensive and powerful graphics capabilities. For more information, visit the TIBCO Software website.
Datafile for download: Profit.xls.
R
R is a powerful open source software system for statistical computing. It has become immensely popular due to its intuitive programming language, built-in support for statistical procedures, and ability to produce beautiful graphics. R is extensible through a package system, and numerous contributions from its user community are freely available. R is available on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. For more information, visit the R Project website.
Datafile for download: PROFIT.txt.
SPSS
SPSS for Windows provides a powerful statistical analysis and data management system in a graphical environment, using descriptive menus and simple dialog boxes to do most of the work for you. Most tasks can be accomplished simply by pointing and clicking the mouse. For more information, visit the SPSS website.
Datafile for download: Profit.xls.
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access is a relational database management system (DBMS). A DBMS is a software product that allows a user to store, manipulate, and retrieve data. Microsoft Access allows the user to store more data than spreadsheet based software products such as Microsoft Excel, while providing a more user-friendly interface to manipulate and retrieve data than commercial statistics based software packages such as SAS or S-Plus. For more information, visit the Microsoft Access website.
Datafiles for download: Cows.xlsx, Cows.accdb.
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program used to store, organize, and manipulate data. In addition to these basic functions, Excel also features data analysis and graphing capability. Through a user-friendly point-and-click interface, the non-statistician can perform data analysis without becoming lost in the intricacies of programming. For more information, visit the Microsoft Excel website.
Datafiles for download: Profit.xlsx, Salary.txt.
MPI (Message Passing Interface)
MPI is the most popular programming library for parallel computing in C, C++, or Fortran. This workshop will show concrete examples of parallel code in C chosen to give an introduction to parallel computing using MPI. The effectiveness of parallelizing code will be demonstrated by the results of performance studies on the cluster in the UMBC High Performance Computing Facility (HPCF).