Numerical Algorithm Standard

The industry for mathematical software has been lacking a unified and standardised policy for a long time. Now, people involved in making and using these softwares are coming together to formulate a consistent policy for numerical programming.

The Numerical Mathematics Consortium (Waterloo, Canada; Cambridge, MA; and Austin, TX) recently announced that mathematics software suppliers and individuals from industry and academia are working together to define a consistent and manageable foundation for numerical programming. The organisation is committed to establishing an open mathematical semantics standard for numerical algorithm development to enable portability and reuse among tools, platforms and disciplines.

Numerical Mathematics Consortium founding members include INRIA (Scilab Publisher), Maplesoft, Mathsoft and National Instruments. Also some individuals from industry and academia act as advisers. For further details visit www.nmconsortium.org.