Utilization of Mathematical Software Packages in Chemical Engineering Research

Using Fortran taken as the starting point, we are now on the sixth decade of high-level programming applications. Among the programming languages available, computer algebra systems (CAS) appear to be a good choice in chemical engineering can be applied easily. Until the emergence of CAS, the assistance from a specialized group for large-scale programming is justified. Nowadays, it is more effective for the modern chemical engineer to rely on his/her own programming ability for problem solving. In the present paper, the abilities of Polymath, Maple, Matlab, Mathcad, and Mathematica in handling differential equations are illustrated for differential-algebraic equations, large system of nonlinear differential equations, and partial differential equations. The programming of solutions with these CAS are presented, contrasted, and discussed in relation to chemical engineering problems. Keywords: Computer algebra systems (CAS),computer simulation,Mathcad, Mathematica,Mathlab and numerical methods.