By contrast, packages like SPSS, Systat, SAS, Gauss, JMP and S-Plus provide a numerical / graphical toolset. They can illustrate, they can simulate, and they can find approximate numerical solutions to numerical problems, but they generally cannot find exact symbolic solutions to statistical problems.

Features include: a complete suite for manipulating arbitrary pdf's univariate and multivariate automated expectations, probability, plotting automated transformations (functions of random variables) generating functions inversion theorems symbolic maximum likelihood estimation numerical maximum likelihood estimation automated Pearson curve fitting Johnson curve fitting Gram-Charlier expansions non-parametric kernel density estimation moment conversion formulae component-mix and parameter-mix distributions stable distributions copulae random number generation asymptotics decision theory order statistics Fisher Information h-statistics, k-statistics, polykays checking and correction of textbook formulae and more

Advanced user interface
mathStatica makes full use of the latest interface technologies. Palettes provide easy access to the most common distributions (Gold version). On-line HELP is a click away. And, mathStatica is perfectly integrated with the Springer text Mathematical Statistics with Mathematica, so that every example is live, every equation is at the reader's finger tips, every diagram can be generated on the fly, equations are hyperlinked, footnotes pop-up, cross-references are live, the index is hyperlinked and animations are a mouse-click away.

Hundreds of Worked Examples
mathStatica seamlessly integrates with the Springer text Mathematical Statistics with Mathematica, providing hundreds of live worked examples on a remarkable variety of topics - see the Book Index.

Award Winning Software
mathStatica has won multiple international awards at major conferences in the USA and Europe.

mathStatica is now used in over 50 countries, at almost every major university in the USA, and at institutions such as Boeing, NASA, Los Alamos Labs, and financial institutions such as Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, the US Federal Reserve, HBOS, KPMG, Reuters, the SEC, Standard Chartered, UBSW etc.

Delightfully Simple
By delightfully simple, we mean both (i) easy to use, and (ii) able to solve problems that seem difficult, but which are formally quite simple. Consider, for instance, playing a devilish game of chess against a strong chess computer: in the middle of the game, after a short pause, the computer announces, "Mate in 16 moves". The problem it has solved might seem fantastically difficult, but it is really just a 'delightfully simple' finite problem that is conceptually no different than looking just two moves ahead. The salient point is that as soon as one has a tool for solving such problems, the notion of what is difficult changes completely. A pocket calculator is certainly a delightfully simple device: it is easy to use, and it can solve tricky problems that were previously thought to be difficult. But today, few people bother to ponder at the marvel of a calculator any more, and we now generally spend our time either using such tools or trying to solve higher-order conceptual problems - and so, we are certain, it will be with mathematical statistics too.

Powered by Mathematica
mathStatica is built on top of the industrial strength backbone of Mathematica. It takes full advantage of Mathematica's superb symbolic, numerical and graphical engine, as well as its sophisticated notebook user interface, to create an application package for solving problems in mathematical statistics. And even if you have never used Mathematica before, a free trial copy of Mathematica is included with the book.

Arbitrary precision numerics
Whereas most software packages provide only finite-precision numerics, Mathematica also provides an arbitrary-precision numerical engine: if accuracy is important, Mathematica excels. As McCullough (2000, p. 296) notes:

" By virtue of its variable precision arithmetic and symbolic power, Mathematica's performance on these reliability tests far exceeds any finite-precision statistical package."
Computational Statistics, 15 (279-299)

Check that textbook solution!
In the process of developing and testing mathStatica, its output has been compared with thousands of known textbook solutions. When disparities are found, numerical or other methods can usually be used to check who is wrong. In this manner, the authors have encountered many errors in highly respected reference texts in mathematical statistics. Some of these textbook errors are now listed at our new Spot the Error page. Sometimes these are just 'typos', and sometimes the known solution is just fundamentally wrong. If you are passionate about accuracy, then mathStatica is a superb tool to assist in checking both your own work and the work of others.