Waterloo, Canada, June 7, 2001 — Waterloo Maple, a world leader in mathematical software for education, research and industry, announced today that it will introduce enhanced Web math functionality using WebEQ™ technology by Design Science, developer of the most widely adopted scientific communication software components for print and Web-based technical documents. WebEQ uses the power of MathML, the standard in encoding mathematics on the Web, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The new functionality will be an integral part of Maple 7, the latest version of Waterloo Maple’s flagship product. The release of Maple 7 was announced on June 1, 2001, and is targeted to ship on June 29, 2001.

MathML 2.0 is an essential standard for facilitating the next generation of online math applications. It enables the professional display, flexible interactive manipulation and the standardized extraction of mathematical meaning of expressions. Once fully adopted by the industry, the standard will enable widespread access of mathematical technology on the Web and true interoperability among compliant applications. Many major mathematical software vendors have declared their commitment to the standard.

Maple 7’s implementation of MathML 2.0 is the most comprehensive in the industry. It allows for the translation of Maple-based documents to full MathML 2.0 for display on browsers and for translation into native formats by other applications. Maple 7 takes advantage of the WebEQ component by Design Science to view mathematics on standard browsers.

WebEQ is a suite of Java applets and applications that facilitate the professional presentation of mathematics on ordinary browsers, which have yet to migrate to MathML 2.0. WebEQ is compatible with Internet Explorer and Netscape on most platforms. Waterloo Maple has embedded Design Science code in Maple 7 for permanent local installations and will maintain runtime components on its Web site to allow users who do not have local installations to access the Java applets during a session.

“MathML 2.0 is the most significant recent development in the math software industry,” states Dr. Tom Lee, Waterloo Maple’s Vice President of Marketing and Executive Product Director. He adds, “Leveraging Design Science’s outstanding technology and dominant market position from the start, ensures that our customers realize the full potential of this exciting standard sooner with Maple than with our competitors’ applications.”

“We are very excited about our contribution to Waterloo Maple’s product initiative. Maple 7’s implementation of MathML 2.0 is clearly the most progressive and comprehensive in the market to date, and the combination of their highly regarded mathematics and our WebEQ technology makes for an unbeatable combination,” states Dr. Robert Miner, Director of New Product Development of Design Science.

About Waterloo Maple

Founded in 1988, Waterloo Maple is a world leader in mathematical and analytical software. The Maple system embodies advanced technology such as symbolic computation, infinite precision numerics, innovative Web connectivity and a powerful 4GL language for solving a wide range of mathematical problems encountered in modeling and simulation. Over a million users have adopted Waterloo Maple products as their preferred platform for exploring and managing complex problems in engineering, science, mathematics and technical education. Virtually every major university and research institute in the world, including MIT, Stanford, Oxford and Waterloo, has adopted Maple to enhance their education and research activities. Waterloo Maple's industrial customer base includes Nortel, Raytheon, Boeing, and DaimlerChrysler.

About Design Science

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, Design Science, Inc. developer of WebEQ, MathType and the Equation Editor in Microsoft Office, develops software for publishing mathematical notation in print and Web-based technical documents and for building Web pages with dynamic math.

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Contact

Madelaine Currier
Manager, Public Relations
mcurrier@maplesoft.com
(519) 883-0097
Fax: (519) 747-5284
Waterloo Maple Inc
57 Erb St. West
Waterloo, ON N2C 6C2
Canada
www.maplesoft.com

Bruce Virga
Vice President Sales
brucev@dessci.com
800-827-0685
562-432-2920

Design Science, Inc.
140 Pine Avenue, 4th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802, USA

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